This is probably the genesis of the common myth that ‘In World War II mines sank more ships than any other weapon.’ More ships were sunk by German torpedoes than were sunk by the mines laid by all countries. 5įrom a British viewpoint mines accounted for more shipping losses than submarines. 4 British mines sank 1,043 Axis ships compared to about 432 Axis ships sunk by British submarines. The largest offensive mining operation in World War II was the laying of about 50,000 British ground mines in NW Europe by British aircraft for the loss of approximately 500 aircraft. The major submarine offensive by the German U-boats in the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ sank 2,788 ships and, assuming that 92% were sunk by torpedoes, 2,561 ships were sunk by German torped oes. 1 In a listing of 1,242 Merchant Navy ships sunk by U-boats 1,141 (92%) were sunk by torpedoes and only 101 (8%) were sunk by gunfire or the combination of torpedoes and gunfire. Japanese submarines sank 18 ships over 500 tons in Australian waters, and they were all sunk by torpedoes. The torpedo is the ‘weapon of choice’ for submarines attacking ships. In contrast Japanese submarines sank very few Allied ships, and Japan lacked an aerial mine for mining in Allied held waters (offensive mining).Īll losses stated in this article must be treated with due caution, and generally refer to ships over 500 tons. Submarine torpedoes and aerial mines were the two major weapons used against warships and merchant ships in World War II, and were used to good effect by America, Britain and Germany. The final project before retiring in 1990 was the development of MCM equipment, particularly ‘Dyad’ magnetic sweeps, to enable the RAN to use ‘Craft of Opportunity’ as minesweepers.
Working in just about all areas of mine countermeasures (MCM) included the observation and analysis of multi-national MCM exercises. Transferring to the RAN Experimental Laboratory (RANEL) he was involved in mine identification and the ‘half-necklace’ ship’s bottom search for Ships Divers. After qualifying as a Ships Diver in 1957 he joined the RAN Mine Countermeasures Development Unit (MCDU) at HMAS Rushcutter to develop a towed diver search system. Mike Turner graduated from Sydney University with a degree in Science and an Honours degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Publication March 2014 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Torpedo, Ship losses, Mines RAN Ships None noted.
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