. Simsadus: London; The American navy in Europe. d up to this time had been of thecontact* type, which means that the mine ex-ploded when struck by a ship. On the outside of themine there were four or five pins about eight Incheslong; when one of these was struck, as by the side ofa ship, it was driven Into the interior, the mineexploded. There were other types of contactmines, the detonating apparatus of which was of thesame principle but differently carried out, in that inthe place of pins, a bar on the top of the mine, wouldcause the explosion. Mines of this type would not bereally satisfac
. Simsadus: London; The American navy in Europe. d up to this time had been of thecontact* type, which means that the mine ex-ploded when struck by a ship. On the outside of themine there were four or five pins about eight Incheslong; when one of these was struck, as by the side ofa ship, it was driven Into the interior, the mineexploded. There were other types of contactmines, the detonating apparatus of which was of thesame principle but differently carried out, in that inthe place of pins, a bar on the top of the mine, wouldcause the explosion. Mines of this type would not bereally satisfactory in the proposed scheme, for toomany would have to be laid. There were also thosetypes which could be exploded from the shore byelectricity, but these also would not answer thepurpose In such a broad area. What was wantedwas a mine whose effective radius, or radius of dan-ger, would be comparatively large. When America declared War on Germany, manyinventions to be used against the submarine beganto pour Into the Navy Department. Among these. ■I ^ rt §■■ THE NORTHERN MINE BARRAGE 71 was the handiwork of one Mr. Ralph C. Brown, ofWinchester, Mass.; his invention was exactly thesort of mine which was wanted for this NorthernMine Barrage. The principle was this: Attachedto the mine were four or five very fine wires about50 yards long; these wires were light enough and hadsufficient buoyancy to keep them from sinking andso remained extended beneath the water, stretch-ing with the current or in all directions at the samedepth at which the mine was placed. Any largesteel object, such as a ship, coming in contact withthese wires, through the agency of an electric bat-tery In the mine, would set an electric currentin motion, which would explode the mine. Toomuch credit can never be given Mr. Brown for thisinvention, for it made the Northern Mine Barragepossible. When the idea of laying a barrage of mines fromScotland to Norway was taken up seriously in Novem-ber, 1917, it was
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectworldwar19141918
