Planning of Marine Mines Operations - Research Proposal Example

Naval Mines Name Tutor Course Date Introduction A naval mine means an explosive device always self-contained placed in water to destroy ships or surface submarines. When hidden down in the sea it can remain there for even a month undetected until a submarine comes around it (Schroeder, 2003). Sea mines play an important role in naval warfare because they are defensively or offensively and due to mines demonstrated success and capabilities. For offensive purposes, mines planted on the waterways of the enemy to cause explosion and even destruction during the attack. The classification of, mines can be done in three different ways; by the position they occupy in water, by method of delivery, or by method of activation. Mines categorized by the position they occupy in water includes, bottom mines, moored mines, drifting mines which need not to be anchored to the bottom but always allowed to float freely also falls in this category. Mines categorized by the method of delivery, includes aircraft laid, surface laid and submarine mines. A naval mine is a combat weapon, that is, a type of marine shells, for wiping out enemy ships and making their movement more difficult. The major characteristics of naval mines are that they are in invariable and prolonged combat readiness; they are abrupt in their action, and the complexity of disarming them. Naval mines get positioned in enemy waters and beside one’s own coast. They consist of a charge of explosives that are contained in a watertight case that also seizes instruments and devices to explode the mine and to provide safety in managing (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979). History of Naval mines The first application of the term “sea mine” was in 16th century when Dutch loaded the vessels with large amount of explosives and sent the drifting ship against an enemy. In 1585, Federico Gianibelli an Italian working for Dutch sent two bomb ships to drift on the bridge tearing around 200 foot of it, which marked the first explosive charge used in warfare (Schroeder, 2003). However, naval wars have evolved as a weapon during the revolutionary wars and have played role in conflict ever since (Edlow, 2002). This discussion brings the history of naval mines spanning from the roots of naval mining before world wars up to the time of world war, cold war era application, and most recent operation of desert storm. David Bushnell has become the father of warfare in history. While he was studying at the University of Yale, he discovered that gunpowder could explode under water. He therefore designed a sea mine after authorization during American Revolution. Robert Fulton continued to develop floating mines whereby in 1797 he advised the British to use drifting mines in order to attack French fleet but the attempt failed after the French’s detection. He later attempted through his experiment to destroy French frigate by building a weapon that consisted of a cable with mine connected to each end. This attempt also failed when the mines exploded without sinking the ship but he later succeeded in 1805 while working in England to sink for Dorothea 200 ton brig. Later in 1844, Samuel Colt perfected the use of electric current to detonate a mine on the Potamac River. During World War I and World War II, both the Allied and Central forces used both offensive and defensive mines especially the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. The Mk6 mine did play an important role during the era of World War I by protecting the Allied shipping. In the 1918, United States and British Navy did plant more than 76,000 Mk mines in the North Sea. This mine barrage limited the ability of German subs to break out of the Atlantic Ocean and attack the allied shipping (Hartman, 1991). During World War II, United States used openly against Japan in Pacific, war zone. At the time of World War II, Allied Nations used Mk mines, which was air, dropped into the position. Japan on the hand did lay defensive mine fields meant to keep U.S submarines entering into the Sea of Japan and mining it. The aircrafts of the Allied forces ended up dropping more than 12000 mines during the operation, which was termed “operation starvation”- this is a code name for mining the waters in and around the Japans islands. During Cold war, there was the use of mines especially in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War took place between 1964 up to around 1973. The use mines later continued during the Nicaraguan war, which occurred due to a controversy between the administration and the Congress during the reign of Regan in United States. The first mines to be used both on land sea happened to be the destructor mines, when dropped on land, the mines burry themselves in the ground. During the year of 1972 during the Vietnam War, U.S aircraft did plant more than 11000 destructor mines in Haiphong Harbor marking the key to the January 1973 peace accord ending the Vietnam War and more than 330,000 destructor mines were in the Vietnam War. The use of mines also occurred during the periods of post cold war for example the Persian Gulf War of 1991. The allied forces of United States soldiers including Admiral Stan Arthur and Admiral R.J. “Zap” needed to isolate the Iraq naval combats operating in the Northern part of Persian Gulf. The Iraq commanders also tried to defend them by the use of mines. On January 1991, four A-6 aircrafts from USS Ranger (CV-61) conducted mining operations at the mouth of Khawr Az Zubayr river between Umn Qasr naval base and the Persian gulf (Edlow, 2002). The US naval mine warfare strategy: analysis of the way ahead The Naval mine warfare has played a outstanding role in United States wars and clashes as far back as the Civil War. Mine combat sailors involved in these operations got up to the challenge always, under the hardest circumstances. Regrettably, for the most part of the inter-conflict years were marked with a series of neglect, with extreme budget decreases, minor readiness, drop-off in competence, and a general leadership dissatisfaction towards mine warfare. Also, war fighting areas such as submarine, air and surface warfare constructively contend for the best and brightest talent and prevalence of resources. Today’s superior Department of Defense (DOD) and Naval leaders are intensely conscious of the necessity to improve and maintain this capability(Captain Cornish, 2003). The concept for future naval mine countermeasures in littoral power projection: The advance presence and engagement are themes of Joint Vision 2010 (cited in Rhodes and Holder, 1998), which is supported by the Navy and Marine Corps concepts (MCM): Forward … From The Sea (FFTS), Navy Operational Concept (NOC), and Operational Maneuver from the Sea (OMFTS). A frequent thread among these concepts is a clear obligation to maneuver naval forces from the sea into the littorals. The Marine Corps concept, OMFTS, predicts the use of the sea as tactic space to project combat power ashore. With the shift in spotlight by naval forces from the open ocean plans of the Cold War to the littoral regions, the probable for mines to aggravate naval plans has increased. Naval forces should have an effective MCM competence to operate in distant waters in the early stages of regional hostilities, to protect vital follow-on sealift, to allow swift ship to objective tactic in littoral power projection operations, and to conduct follow-on permission or humanitarian operations (Rhodes and Holder, 1998). Modern strategic mine planning: Strategic mine planning is intended at one goal: exploiting the value to be realized from extracting a mineral resource. This attempt at value maximization is operational via mine planners’ suggestions regarding a number of speculations and scheduling alternatives, such as equipment sizes and assignments, ore characterization, ore access mechanics and ore and waste removal sequences. The decisions are updated through time, usually annually, as new information becomes available (Davis and Newman, 2008). Naval mine warfare: operational and technical challenges for naval forces: The U.S. naval forces are organized, trained, and prepared to employ in the full spectrum of military procedures in the deep sea, the littorals, or inland. However today, sea mines in hostile forces are an increasing threat to mobility, as evident in the Gulf War. To convene the threat of the propagation and ever-increasing complexity of sea mines, the Department of the Navy has take on an integrated approach to countermine warfare, this attempts to balance dedicated and organic capabilities intended to leverage emerging technical opportunities (National Academy of Sciences, 2001). U.S. employment of naval mines: a chronology: In this century the United States has employed naval mines both effectively and ineffectively. Naval mines first evolved as a weapon during the Revolutionary War, both World Wars, most notably the North Sea Barrage in World War I and Operation Starvation in World War II. The Cold War brought another type of warfare; the enemy was no longer a peer enemy but a regional one, considerably bulwarked by our formidable Cold War opponent, the Soviet Union. In the Korean War--the first truly limited war fought by the United States--the United States, overwhelmed with mine countermeasure operations against Soviet-supplied mines, did not employ naval mines. In the end of the Vietnam conflict naval mines were employed, initially for military reasons but were ultimately heralded for their diplomatic implications (Edlow, 1997 The 21st century mine warfare The Navy has skilled an overarching vision for mine warfare, commonly, to support national strategies and equipped plans, while focusing on mine countermeasures in order to decrease significantly the time it takes to conduct mine countermeasures operations and to make sure that the remaining risk is low. The Navy is more and more concerned about the likelihood of terrorists using mines or underwater ad hoc explosive devices in domestic U.S. ports and waterways. Customary naval forces and terrorists can use these arms for military effects and psychological terror—with the latent for significant harm to the global economy—what the Secretary of Defense has described as “hybrid wars.” Therefore, mine countermeasures is important to national military and maritime security strategies and worldwide commerce (Benes and Sandel, 2009). To overcome the mine threat, the Navy has established the Mine Warfare Center of Excellence at the Naval Mine and Anti-submarine Warfare Command. The Service is co-locating the Mine Warfare Forces to improve training and readiness, and has forward deployed mine countermeasures staffs, ships, helicopters, and explosive weapons disposal lack of involvement to guarantee quick responses to mine crises worldwide (Benes and Sandel, 2009). An officer Mine Warfare career path and the Mine man rating for enrollment of mine warfare experts ensure serious skills in the operating forces. And, the Navy is mounting and deploying advanced mine-hunting and minesweeping systems and the intelligence and oceanographic capabilities that will allow the mine warfare superiority (Benes and Sandel, 2009). Bibliography Edlow, S. R. (2002). U.S employment of Naval mines: A chronology. Alexandria: Center for Naval Analyses. Hartman, G. (1991). Weapons that wait. In S. Truver, Weapons that wait (p. 50). Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. Schroeder, D. (2003). History of Sea Mine and its continued importance in Today's Navy. The History of the sea mine , 1. National Academy of Sciences, 2001, pp. IX, viewed 24 September 2012, HYPERLINK "http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:eT1QEdbt948J:www.nap.edu/catalog/10176.html+&cd=1&hl=sw&ct=clnk&gl=ke" Zilizo kwenye kache - HYPERLINK "https://www.google.co.ke/search?hl=sw&biw=962&bih=544&q=related:www.nap.edu/catalog/10176.html+Operational+and+Technical+Challenges+for+Naval+Forces&tbo=1&sa=X&ei=gmRgUJ7nE9SRhQfFp4HQBg&ved=0CB8QHzAA" Zinazofanana: HYPERLINK "http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10176" Naval Mine Warfare: Operational and Technical Challenges for Naval Forces , 2001, pp 56, viewed 24 September 2012, < marineminingoperationshttp://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10176&page=56> Cornish, G, J, 2003, U.S. NAVAL MINE WARFARE STRATEGY ANALYSIS OF THE WAY AHEAD,viewed 24 September 2012, < HYPERLINK "http://www.dtic.mil/cgi bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA414973" http://www.dtic.mil/cgi bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA414973 > RHODES, J, E, and HOLDER, G, S,1998, Concept for Future Naval Mine Countermeasures in Littoral Power Projection,viewed 24 September 2012, < HYPERLINK "http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/usmc/mcm.pdf" http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/usmc/mcm.pdf > Newman, A ,M, 2008, Modern Strategic Mine Planning, viewed September 2012 HYPERLINK "http://inside.mines.edu/~gdavis/Papers/CRC_Mining_Conference_Paper.pdf" http://inside.mines.edu/~gdavis/Papers/CRC_Mining_Conference_Paper.pdf > Naval Mine Warfare: Operational and Technical Challenges for Naval Forces, viewed September 2012, < HYPERLINK "http://books.google.ae/books?id=svi6XZMp IC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false" http://books.google.ae/books?id=svi6XZMp IC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false > Edlow, S, R, 1997, U.S. Employment of Naval Mines: A Chronology, viewed 24 September 2012, < HYPERLINK "http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/9505060000.pdf" http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/9505060000.pdf > Benes, T, A, and Sandel, E, A, 2009, HYPERLINK "http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&c d=rja&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.navy.mil%2Fn85%2Fmiw_pri er june2009.pdf&ei=4mhgULnpN4y4hAfGooHgBw&usg=AFQjCNEptmzW9FXuoxGc4 3_1X7coTB9tQ" 21ST CENTURY U.S. NAVY MINE WARFARE - The US Navy , viewed 24 September 2012, < www.navy.mil/n85/miw_primer-june2009.pdf > Read More