Mines have been used in most naval conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries. 50 caliber machine guns, minesweepers are a far cry from the sleek, fast-moving destroyers, massive aircraft carriers, and other, more glamorous Navy ships.īut they’re absolutely vital. Just over two hundred feet long, slow and armed with a pair of. Navy built 14 Avenger -class minesweepers in the 1980s and 90s. The Avenger-class minesweepers USS Devastator (MCM 6), USS Gladiator (MCM 11), USS Sentry (MCM 3), USS Dextrous (MCM 13), the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87) and an MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter minehunting helicopter assigned to the “Blackhawks” of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HSM) 15 maneuver in the Arabian Gulf, July 6. This makes minesweepers, wooden or fiberglass-hulled ships specifically designed to hunt down and dispose of minesweepers, vital in a conflict. Dropped in a waterway or sea lane, they are often invisible to regular ships until a ship physically contacts the mine, or the magnetic field of a ship’s hull sets the detonator off. Like land mines, naval mines are metallic munitions with a hollow core designed to explode if triggered. One of the oldest and most dangerous weapons of war, modern naval mines date to the 19th century. increase, the ships that could see the most action are the least ready for it. A new report by ProPublica alleges the service has neglected the fleet and that minesweepers are, in the words of a serving officer “the ships that the Navy forgot.”Īs tensions between Iran and the U.S. Navy’s elderly fleet of minesweepers-the service’s main line of defense against one of the oldest and most effective weapons in naval history-is so run down it is unable to fulfill its mission. Greek authorities have barred the cargo ship from setting sail.The U.S. The container ship’s managers said the coast guard “have been conducting preliminary interviews with the crew of the Maersk Launceston. The two injured crew members were transported to a hospital, while the rest were transferred to another navy vessel, the coast guard said. The ship is a British-built mine countermeasures vessel capable of sweeping and hunting mines. The Kallisto, listing to one side and with severe damage to its stern, much of which appeared to be missing, was towed to a naval base on the nearby island of Salamina. In a statement, the company said there were no injuries on board the cargo ship, and an initial assessment did not indicate any damage. Essberger, said the ship's crew participated in the rescue operation. All 27 navy crew members were rescued from the minesweeper, which sustained damage and was taking on water. The coast guard said a rescue operation was launched with three coast guard patrol boats, a coast guard special forces unit, a navy ship and helicopter and four tug boats. It was not immediately clear why the navy ship Kallisto and the Maersk Launceston container vessel, which had been heading to Turkey with 22 crew on board, collided.
ATHENS, Greece - A Greek navy minesweeper and a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship collided Tuesday outside Greece's main port of Piraeus, leaving two navy crew slightly injured and prompting the evacuation of the severely damaged military vessel.
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