A parachute mine is a

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 ...

dropped from an aircraft by

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

. They were mostly used in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

and initially by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF)

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

. Frequently, they were dropped on land targets.

History

Luftwaffe

During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe used a number of different kinds of parachute mines. The ''Luftmine'' A (LMA) and ''Luftmine'' B (LMB) weighed and respectively. The LMA was in length and the LMB . After the parachute opened, the mine would descend at around . If it came down on land, a clockwork mechanism would detonate the mine 25 seconds after impact. If the mine landed in water it would sink to the bottom. If the depth was greater than , water pressure and the dissolving of a water–soluble plug would deactivate the clockwork time-detonator, and activate an anti-shipping detonator. These were initially magnetic detonators but later, acoustic or magnetic/acoustic detonators could be fitted. The Luftwaffe began dropping mines in British waters in November 1939, using Heinkel He 115 seaplanes and

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...

land–based bombers. The new British cruiser, HMS ''Belfast'', was damaged by a parachute mine on 21 November in the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

, while the destroyer HMS ''Gipsy'' was damaged at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

on the same night. The threat to shipping posed by magnetic detonators was effectively negated after a German parachute mine was captured intact when it landed in mud in the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

. Thereafter, a ship's magnetic field could be counteracted by a process called

degaussing Degaussing, or deperming, is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not ...

. This involved either the installation of electric wires around the inside of the hull, or for smaller vessels, by passing an electric cable under the hull, known as "wiping". Parachute mines were first used against land targets on 16 September 1940 in the early stages of

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

. It was rumoured that

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

had ordered parachute mines to be dropped on London in a fit of temper, but it is more likely that they were originally intended to disrupt shipping in the

London Docks The London Docks were one of several sets of docks in the historic Port of London. They were constructed in Wapping, downstream from the City of London between 1799 and 1815, at a cost exceeding £5½ million. Traditionally ships had d ...

. From October 1940, mines were also dropped in raids on other British cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Coventry. Clearance of these was carried out by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, which quickly dispatched a team to London from HMS ''Vernon'', while Army bomb disposal staff were warned that it was extremely inadvisable to attempt to render them safe without Naval guidance. The official British designation for these weapons on land was "Parachute Landmines", but civilians just called them "land mines". The singer

Al Bowlly Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1899 – 17 April 1941) was a South African-British vocalist, crooner, and dance band guitarist who was Britain's most popular singer for most of the 1930s. He recorded upwards of 1,000 songs that were listened ...

was killed by a parachute mine which exploded outside his flat in Jermyn Street, London during

on 17 April 1941. In 1941 a parachute bomb destroyed Victoria Hall, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, site of the Victoria Hall disaster of 1883. The use of standard parachute mines declined after 1941, but the Luftwaffe later used the Bombenmine (BM 1000, Monika, or G Mine). This was fitted with a tail made from

Bakelite Bakelite ( ), formally , is a thermosetting polymer, thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed by Belgian chemist ...

which broke up on impact. It had a

photodetector Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are devices that detect light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation and convert it into an electrical signal. They are essential in a wide range of applications, from digital imaging and optical ...

beneath a cover which detonated the bomb if exposed to light to counteract the work of bomb disposal units.

British operations

Arming a Liberator for minelaying along the Danube, Celone, Italy Prior to the war, the Admiralty had been developing mines including acoustic and magnetically-triggered types and these were brought into use early in the war. Laid in shallow water they would be set off when a vessel passed over them. The operations were an extension of the blockade of Germany and targets were chosen by the Admiralty though the laying was carried out by the RAF.

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

were initially responsible but they had few aircraft and their medium bombers could only carry one mine apiece, so RAF Bomber Command took over responsibility with their heavy four-engined bombers which could carry four mines. The Short Stirling was used after it was removed from front-line operations against German cities. Minelaying operations by RAF were known as "Gardening", the term carrying over into codebreaking. Mines were about and in diameter. The explosive content of a mine was of explosive such as

Amatol Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene (the precursor of TNT). Similar mixtures (one part dinitronaphthalene and seven parts a ...

(TNT and ammonium nitrate) or Minol (TNT, ammonium nitrate and aluminium), the mine overall weighing .

References

External links

*{{cite web , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301150302/http://www.hyndl.demon.co.uk/hyndland/dact/7landmine.htm , title= Landmine in Dudley Drive, March 1941 , archive-date=2008-03-01 , url=http://www.hyndl.demon.co.uk/hyndland/dact/7landmine.htm , work=Hyndland DACT Local History Aerial bombs Mine warfare Explosive weapons Naval mines