Introduction

The Guv’y Pier

The “Guv’y Pier” is a much-photographed landmark lying just off the coast at Port Laing.

Submarine Mining

The submarine mining service of the British Army operated from 1863 to 1906, as a low-cost and efficient part of the defence of our naval and commercial ports.

The idea of destroying ships by means of sea-borne devices (torpedoes and mines) as opposed to gun-fire dates back to the 16th century. Free-floating drifting mines were deployed by the British Navy against the French Fleet off Rochelle in 1682.

Originally, the term “torpedo” was used for any water-borne explosive device, but by 1870 torpedo came to mean any device that moved through the water – under its own volition, or attached to a spar on a boat.

A spar-mounted torpedo was attached to the bow of a surface-ship as shown here, or a submarine.

The spar was lowered from its transport position so that the explosive charge could be rammed against the side of an enemy ship. Spar-mounted torpedoes were used in the 19th century, being widely deployed by the Confederation Army during the American Civil War.

The self-propelled torpedo, launched from a surface-ship, submarine or aeroplane was a later development, perfected by the British engineer Robert Whitehead in 1866.

A “mine” was any device that was either moored in a fixed location, or drifted with the water.

My mental image of a mine is a big ball covered with horns, bobbing on the sea waiting for an enemy ship to hit one of the horns, triggering a devastating explosion.

And that indeed is how an offensive mine operates. Laid in the path of enemy shipping it sits passively until triggered by a collision, or by proximity in the case of magnetic mines.

But how can a mine be used as a defensive weapon to safeguard a port? How could it be made to distinguish between enemy and friendly ships? The solution is to have a controllable mine that can be switched on and off. Switched off during the day a defensive minefield allows ships to pass safely overhead, but once switched on – at night, or on spotting an invading force – it forms a protective screen.

And that was the task of a submarine mining station. In the event of a war being imminent, they would deploy the mines; test them to ensure they were correctly connected, replace any that were fired, and control the mines, either firing a mine directly when an enemy ship was overhead its location (an observation system), or arming the whole minefield to be triggered by collision sensors in each mine (a circuit closer system.)
These mines and associated mooring systems and connecting cables were held on shore in store rooms adjacent to the minefield control room. In case of an impending threat, an entire minefield could be deployed in less than 48 hours.