NEW MINE-LAYING METHOD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17206, 28 June 1916, Page 3

NEW MINE-LAYING METHOD.

Mines have always been laid in the sen by vessels especially equipped for that purpose. The warring powers of Europe have built submarines to,kill, and destructive engines of warfare -they, have. proved to -be.- - The Germans-have recently utilised submarines for minelaying. The report has not ben rife .long, but as far as anyone can learn it is authentic (says a London journal). Laying mines by this means would not bij impossible, and it is very probable that it is being done in war zone waters to-day. The mines themselves are carried, on the submarine. A hollow, airtight compartment contains the mines; tho chamber, or compartment, is vertical, and the mines are placed one above the other in the enclosure. The submarine then sallies forth with its death-dealing load. AVlien the area designed for the mines is reached and a mine is to be laid, the mine-layers let water into the chamber. The door which seals the bottom of the chamber is in the exterior shell of the submarine’s hull. This door is opened, and one after another the mines are liberated from their submarine prison. They are not simply dropped into the ocean as one might drop a stone; placing them properly takes care and skill and special appliances. Each mine has its anchor;; which goes to the bottom. The so-called “ anchorage cable ” is manipulated in such a way that it allows the mine to float from its anchor at a certain special depth be low tho top of the water. Tho complete secrecy insured by mine-laying in thismethod would appeal particularly to any belligerent, because the more secret mine-laying can be kept the more perilous it is to the foe.