Naval Minefields definition of Naval Minefields in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Minefields, Naval

obstacles set up in sea, lake, and river areas to destroy enemy ships with mines and make their operations more difficult. Depending on tactical requirements mines in naval minefields are arranged in one, two, or three rows, in mine banks (groups), and in vertical curtains (mines set at different depths). Defensive minefields are established in friendly waters to strengthen the defense of the coast and approaches to bases; active minefields are set up in enemy waters to inflict losses and to complicate the maneuver of enemy ships in the area of bases, ports, and sea-lanes. Minefields are laid by surface ships, submarines, and aircraft. Near the coast minefields are usually covered by the fire of coastal batteries to prevent sweeping of defensive minefields. Mine protectors are set in front of the minefields. Special vessels called minesweepers are used to negotiate minefields.

Minefields were first used during the Crimean War of 1853–56 by the Russian Navy to defend Kronstadt; on the approaches to Revel, Sveaborg, and Ust’-Dvinsk; on the Danube and luzhnyi Bug rivers; and in the Kerch’ Strait. In June 1855 four English warships were blown up by mines near Kronstadt. The Americans made use of this experience in the Civil War of 1861–65. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904—05 two Japanese battleships, two cruisers, and nine other vessels were destroyed in Russian naval minefields during the defense of Port Arthur; the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk and a few other ships perished in the Japanese minefields. During World War I (1914—18) mines were used on a large scale. About 310,000 mines were used in minefields by all the warring countries. Between 1914 and 1918 more than 200 warships and as many as 180 minesweepers perished in the minefields of all the naval theaters. During World War II (1939-45), minefields were widely used, including fields laid by aircraft in harbors, roadsteads, and sea- and river-lanes. During the war a total of more than 700,000 mines were laid.

S. D. MOGIL’NYI

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Naval Medical Research Development Committee
Naval Medical Research Institute
Naval Medical Research Institute Detachment
Naval Medical Research Institute Toxicology Detachment
Naval Medical Research Lab
Naval Medical Research Unit
Naval Memorandum Correction
Naval Meroka Weapon System
Naval Message
naval meteorology
Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Center - Norfolk
Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command
Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Reserve Activity
Naval METOC Reserve Augment
Naval Mid Atlantic Federal Credit Union
Naval Military Personnel Command Detachment
Naval mine
Naval mine
Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command
Naval Mine Countermeasure
Naval Mine Engineering Facility
Naval Mine Warfare
Naval Mine Warfare Engineering Activity
Naval Mine Warfare School
Naval Mine Warfare Simulation

Naval Minefields

Naval mines
naval missile
Naval Missile Facility Point Arguello
Naval Missile/Medical Center
Naval Mission Planning System
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion
naval mobile environmental team
Naval Modular Automated Communications Subsystem
Naval Modular Automated Communications System
Naval museum
Naval museum
Naval Netwar FORCEnet Enterprise
Naval Network and Space Operations Command
Naval Network Operations Command
Naval Network Warfare Command
Naval Networking Environment
Naval Nuclear Fuel Division
Naval Nuclear Power School
Naval Nuclear Power Training Command
Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit
Naval Nuclear Power Unit
Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information
Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program
Naval Object Database of Imagery-Derived Information
Naval Observatory