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Subject:
What Really Sinks Warships
James Dunnigan
12/3/2004 8:16:05 AM
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The U.S. Navy has had twenty ships damaged in combat since World War II. Four of
them were sunk. For sixteen of those ships, it was naval mines that did the
damage Another three were hit by enemy aircraft, and one was hit by a suicide
boat bomb. Ten of those attacks, all from naval mines, were during the Korean
war, which is where the four sinkings took place. Three of the four Vietnam war
attacks were mines (the other was a destroyer hit by a bomb from a North Vietnam
MiG-17). During the 1967 Arab Israeli war, an American intelligence gathering
ship was attacked by Israeli aircraft (and small warships as well). During the
1980-87 Iran-Iraq war, one American ship got hit by an Iranian mine, another by
an Iraqi aircraft firing a missile. During the 1991 Iraq war, two ships were hit
by mines, and in 2000, an al Qaeda suicide bomber detonated a small boat load of
explosives next to a destroyer.
It?s pretty obvious what the most lethal
weapon is; it?s mines. But the navy has consistently shortchanged the building
of mine clearing ships, aircraft and equipment. Other countries, particularly in
Europe, have taken the lead in developing mine clearing technology. In the
1990s, the United States began to invest more money in mine clearing, but
dealing with mines is still considered a secondary issue. This despite the
danger mines have been, and continue to be. All potential naval opponents of the
United States have stocked up on mines. Apparently those who might have to fight
the United States Navy have noticed what the most successful weapon to use
against American ships is. While mines are largely a defensive weapon, it is a
very effective one. And mines can be used offensively as well, if you can get
them to places where enemy ships have to operate. Even American
counter-terrorist efforts recognize this, at least to the extent that the severe
impact of a few naval mines in American ports would have on the economy is
recognized. The U.S. Navy may not pay a lot of attention to mines, but their
enemies certainly are.
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