Minesweeper

minesweeper

[′mīn‚swēp·ər]

(naval architecture)

A ship specially designed and equipped to remove or destroy underwater mines.

(ordnance)

Heavy road roller pushed in front of a tank, to destroy land mines by exploding them.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Minesweeper

 

a warship intended for the detection and destruction of naval mines with the aid of sweeps and for conducting warships behind the sweeps.

Minesweepers are subdivided into the following categories: fleet minesweepers, which escort warships at sea and sweep in areas far from their own bases; coastal and inshore minesweepers, which sweep in their own waters; motorboat minesweepers, which sweep in roadsteads and coastal areas; and river minesweepers, which sweep mines and escort ships in rivers.

Large minesweepers have a displacement of up to 800 tons and a speed of 15–20 knots. Such minesweepers are equipped with powerful engines, sonar and television for mine detection, and equipment for towing the sweeps. The main armament of minesweepers consists of various types of sweeps, the use of which depends on the type of mines the enemy has laid. For self-defense, minesweepers are armed with small-caliber antiaircraft guns.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.