The Sinking (沉, or Chen) naval mines are a series of Chinese

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

s. These are bottom mines. Estimates place Chinese total mine stocks at between 80,000 and 100,000 mines.

Chen-1

The Sinking-1 (沉-1, or Chen-1) naval mine is the fourth type of naval mine entering Chinese service in 1966. It is a bottom mine jointly developed by the 710th research institute, the 152nd Factory and Fengxi Machinery Factory (汾西机器厂), and it was the first Chinese naval mine using an acoustic fuze. It is useful for shallow water and port defence or blockading.

Chen-2

The Sinking-2 (

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: ''沉-2'',

Transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

: ''Chen-2'') bottom mine was the first indigenous designed Chinese naval mine that could adopt a range of

fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates its function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fu ...

s, such as acoustic,

contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * C ...

, infrasonic, ultrasonic and

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, m ...

fuzes. The project was jointly developed by Fengxi Machinery Factory (Chinese: ''汾西机器厂'') and the 710th Research Institute in 1972, and was mainly used for coastal regions. The mine was accepted into service in 1975.

Chen-3

The Sinking-3 (沉-3, or Chen-3) is the successor of Sinking-2 (Chen-2) bottom mine, and is also a shallow water mine. It was jointly developed by the Vanguard Instrumentation Factory (前卫仪表厂) and

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Maritime Machinery Factory (苏州船用机械厂) in 1974. In comparison to its processor, this mine is the first in the

inventory to adopt combined fuses instead of being only able to have a single type of fuze. Currently, all Sinking-3 bottom mines are upgraded to the Sinking-3-II (Chen-3Yi) standard and this latest version is a fully solid state model. The upgrades were done by the Vanguard Instrumentation Factory.

Chen-4

The Chen-4 or Sinking-4 (沉-4, or Chen-4) is a bottom mine with non- contact fuses. It was jointly developed by the 710th Research Institute of Chinese Shipbuilding and the

Dongfeng Instrument Factory Dongfeng is the romanization of several Chinese names of which most notably "East Wind" (). Dongfeng may refer to: People's Republic of China * Dongfeng (missile) (), series of ballistic missiles of the People's Liberation Army * Chinese series o ...

(东风仪表厂). This bottom mine is the counterpart of the Drifting-2 drifting mine and like the latter, it can be disassembled for easy transportation and then reassembled prior to being deployed. A mine with negative buoyancy which remains on the seabed. Also called a ground mine.

Chen-5

The Sinking-5 (Chen-5) is a Chinese

. It is a small bottom mine, like the Chen-4 and Drifting-2 drifting mine it was designed around the concept of People's War of

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

. It can be dismantled for easy transportation and reassembled just prior to being planted. Unlike the Sinking-4 (Chen-4) bottom mine, this bottom mine cannot be used as part of other Chinese naval mine systems, but it does have the ability to incorporate the contact fuse, a feat that the Sinking (Chen-4) bottom mine lacks. Furthermore, Sinking-5 (Chen-5) bottom mine is developed by Fengxi Machinery Factory (汾西机器厂) can also be used on land as part of

booby trap A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or an animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap may b ...

s. The evaluation of this mine was carried out under combat conditions - these mines were deployed in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and the customers were satisfied with the performance, and as a result, the mine was considered an achievement and won a national award in 1978.

Chen-6

Another shallow-water bottom mine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen Bottom Mine Mine, Chen, bottom