Book- The Hidden Threat: Mines and Minesweeping in WWI- Hardcover

It is not widely remembered that mines were by far the most effective weapon deployed against the British Royal Navy in WW1, costing them 5 battleships, 3 cruisers, 22 destroyers, 4 submarines and a host of

other vessels.

They were in the main combated by a civilian force using fishing boats and paddle steamers recruited from holiday resorts.

This unlikely armada saved the day for Britain and her allies.

After 1916, submarine attacks on merchant ships became an even more serious threat to Allied communications but submarines were far less damaging to British warships than mines.

This book contains the following:

Mines in WWI

Main cause of ship losses

The Konigin Louise

Loss of Amphion

The Berlin

Loss of Audacity

Losses in the Dardanelles

The Meteor

German mines and how they worked

Minefields- British and German

Fast minelayers

Submarine minelayers

Formation of RNMR

Personnel and discipline

Sweeping technique and gear

Trawlers and drifters

Paddlers

Fleet minesweepers

Sloops

Actions

East Coast and the Scarborough Raid

Dardanelles

Dover Straight

Mine Clearance

Some Typical Incidents

Mine strikes and Mine sweeping

Statistics

Mines swept

Ships lost

Minesweepers lost

168 pages.