The Hidden Threat: The Royal Naval Minesweeping Reserve in WWI
Jim Crossley, "The Hidden Threat: The Royal Naval Minesweeping Reserve in WWI"
ISBN: 1848842724 | 2011 | EPUB | 168 pages | 3 MB
It is not widely remembered that mines were by far the most effective weapon deployed against the British Royal Navy in WW1, costing them 5 battleships, 3 cruisers, 22 destroyers, 4 submarines and a host of other vessels. They were in the main combated by a civilian force using fishing boats and paddle steamers recruited from holiday resorts. This unlikely armada saved the day for Britain and her allies. After 1916, submarine attacks on merchant ships became an even more serious threat to Allied communications but submarines were far less damaging to British warships than mines.