Ch. 11: Crouching Tiger Serialization

Any Ship Can Be a Minesweeper – Once

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Question: What percent of American naval ships sunk or seriously damaged since the end of World War II was struck by mines?

1.     0%

2.     20%

3.     40%

4.     80%

The US Naval War College Review is not exactly known for its comedy; but in a seminal article, analyst Scott Truver managed several introductory quips that perfectly capture the acute danger mine warfare poses.  To wit: “A mine is a terrible thing that waits,” and “any ship can be a minesweeper – once.”

As to our lead question above, since the end of World War II, a total of 19 American naval ships have been sunk or seriously damaged by hostile forces.  While missiles, torpedoes, small aircraft, and smaller boats all had their day in that sinking sun, mines accounted for fully 15 of the mission kills – just about 80%.

It’s not really the sinking of ships per se that makes the mine such a powerful weapon.  Rather, it is the psychological impact mines have on the battlefield, and their collateral ability to terrorize, and thereby paralyze, an opposing navy.

To understand this impact, imagine you own a sprawling 5,000 acre ranch; and then further imagine that you know that just a single land mine capable of blowing off your legs has been planted somewhere on your property.  How inclined would you be to hike your acreage?  And just how much time and money would it take to “sweep” for that needle in a haystack mine before you found it and resumed your unrestricted activities?

In fact, the primary purpose of mine warfare is to deny access to an area through a combination of psychological terror and the lengthy time it takes to effectively sweep mines. In this way, mines represent the epitome of an asymmetric weapon designed to execute an area denial strategy – and mines thereby fit like hand in glove into China’s emerging warfighting capabilities.

The ability of mine warfare to terrorize and paralyze is readily apparent in a long history that Chinese strategists themselves have meticulously studied.  In fact, America – both as a mine perpetrator and as a mine victim – has taught China much of what it is now operationalizing on the battlefield today.

On the “America as perpetrator” front, one of the most effective weapons used by the United States in the Vietnam War was the mining of Haiphong Harbor.  On May 8^th, 1972, during Operation Pocket Money, American planes from the aircraft carrier Coral Sea dropped what would be the first of over 11,000 mines into the waters of North Vietnam’s most important seaport. By paralyzing shipping lanes, this mine gambit effectively cut off over 80% of imports into North Vietnam – and this economic blow had a good bit to do with getting North Vietnam back to the Paris bargaining table.