BRITISH MINELAYING

Evening Star, Issue 23834, 14 March 1941, Page 8

BRITISH MINELAYING

GODD WORK BY AIRCRAFT NO GERMAN HARBOUR IMMUNE (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 13. (Received March 14, at 10.30 a.m.) Well over 100 ships engaged in supply for the enemy are known to have been destroyed in mined areas representing less than 10 per cent, of the total minefields laid by the R.A.1 1 . and the Fleet Air Arm. In laying the mines British aircraft have flown 1,250,000 miles. No Gorman harbour is immune from British mine-laying aircraft, and, despite its powerful active defences, the Kiel Canal has been the scene of considerable mine-laying. The results take some time to show. For example, in September certain mines were laid in the canal, but it was only at the end of November that it became known that seven enemy ships, each severely damaged by mines, were lying at one cud of the canal. The repeated mining of the Kiel Canal has undoubtedly seriously embarrassed tho movements of enemy naval and mercantile craft.

An interesting instance occurred in December, when a ship laden with iron ore was sunk in the canal. Air reconnaissance clearly revealed tho obstruction, on which salvage work was hampered by ice. ‘There are few obstacles more difficult to clear than a sunken ship with such a oargo. Throughout this period, even when the canal was not completely blocked, it has only been open to passage by the smallest ships. The canal bottom was damaged where a vessel sank, and one embankment collapsed. After a long silence the Germans have advanced various excuses to explain the many difficulties of transit. At first they attributed them to a collison and later to sabotage. Finally, it was stated that a bridge over the canal collapsed on the ship and sank it. The laying of mines from the' air was a secret weapon when first used by the British. Germany lost a great number of ships in the narrow roadsteads and shallow channels beyond reach of mine-laying ships before realising that the mines had been so laid. The mines, which are long cylinders with the explosive force of a torpedo, are stowed away in a bomb compartment enclosed by folding doors on the underside of the aircraft fuselage. A parachute which is attached, opens as the mines fall, so that they slip gently into the water without damaging the delicate mechanism.