ayers, and not even the greatest naval power in the world could
seriously contemplate maintaining a peace fleet of, say, 2000 such
vessels in constant readiness. Therefore recourse has to be made, when
war comes, to mercantile craft, which seldom possess all the desired
qualities.

This is what actually occurred in every maritime country at war during
the years succeeding August, 1914, and in order to meet the danger
attending the use of passenger ships, trawlers and drifters, often with
a considerable draught, minesweeping operations were, whenever possible,
confined to the three hours before and the three hours after high water.
Shallow-draught M.L.'s carried out the scouting for mines at low tide.
It is difficult to see what would be the fate of a nation hemmed in by
mines and devoid of a mercantile fleet sufficiently numerous to provide
powerful sweeping units. The trawlers and pleasure steamers were a
godsend to England in those years of intensive submarine warfare. This
undeniable fact incidentally provides another example--if such is now
needed--of naval power resting not entirely on fleets and dockyards, but
on every branch and twig of maritime activity.

It is difficult to describe in small compass and non-technical language
the various tactical formations employed in minesweeping operations.
They were many and various. The Germans used their vessels in long
lines, the ships being connected together by a light wire-sweep
plentifully supplied with cutting devices, into which the mooring wire
of the mine was expected to obligingly slip. This method suffered from
the serious drawback that if any part of the sweep-wire caught on a
submerged obstacle, such as a projection of rock, the whole line of
ships became disorganised. There were also many other objections to this
system, some of which will doubtless be apparent to the thoughtful
reader.

The formation usually adopted by British minesweepers was that shown in
Fig. 28, in which it will be observed that each pair of ships is
actually independent of the others, but is acting in company with them,
and that the pathway swept by one pair is slightly overlapped by the
following pair. In the event of an accident to one ship the next astern
can immediately let go its own end of sweep-wire and go to the rescue of
any survivors. It may be apropos to say here that the smaller class of
minesweeper is usually blown to pieces if she touches a mine.

[Illustration: FIG. 2