That one works, thanks

:up:

How were the mines deployed?
 

I saw a V11D on Ace's Super Turms v5 mod picture and wondered how how earth it functioned. In my mind mines are spiky explosive things you really do not want to go near.

I can visualize how a mine layer might safely lay mines but not a submarine, does anyone have any idea how the mines were armed and deployed?

There were a lot of posts a few years ago about minelaying from the U-boats already provided with SH3.

Indeed, someone created a mod that converted a magnetic torpedo into a mine, and which could be laid from any torpedo tube.

However, the big problem was that the only way you could use this mine successfully was to lay it in the path of a ship or convoy (ie, within rendering distance of the ships). Apparently the mine worked quite well, but what was the use? The novelty soon faded for everyone, and the mod was abandoned.

The novelty faded quickly for me too, so I don't have a link.

This kind of issue (quick boredom) will always be a problem for those who want to play with minelayers, in SH3.

Stiebler.

The main issue is also that any unit <20km away from you will not be even rendered, and any unit <40km not even exist in the game using its sensors and collision boxes, etc.

Hence, once you leave the area and go more than 40 km away the torpedo/mine effectively dissapears (And no other unit will appear near it anyway) and will never hit anything.

Add to this that traffic in most campaigns does no exactly enter and leave harbors as you would expect them to do in real life (Though they get nearby) and that it's difficult for you both to find the proper spot to lay mines and to make a minefield dense enough toe xpect some success.

The only useful time for this would be *may be* some early war actions in the british channel and british east coast, and probably specific single missions. But for a campaign it's difficult to make it interesting enough to play.

Minelaying from boats.
 

Hi All,
I know nothing about minelaying from Uboats, but having done it, can explain how British boats did and probably still do it.
We originally had a class of boats, River class, specifically for laying the buoyant mines we are all familiar with, horned spheroids, which were stored in the extra high casing on rails. They could be moved aft and released by control from inside. they did not arm themselves until the layer was well clear. Subsequently, a ground mine (lays on the bottom) and a buoyant mine were developed which could be launched through the tubes, giving all boats minelaying capability. Ground mines were about 8 feet long so could be loaded two in a tube, and ejected separately, buoyant looked like a regular torpedo and could obviously be used in much deeper water. User safety was achieved by preset timers. Laying in the path of a convoy would be pointless because of the random zigzag courses, but in areas where shipping had to be concentrated, such as harbour approaches and narrow channels, the few mines that a boat carried could be disruptive, if only because of having to sweep them. Hope this helps.
R.R.:arrgh!:

Thanks for the reply RR its good to have some knowledgeable input in a discussion.

For the mine laying sub I have no idea if the mines were dropped out of the bottom of the boat or if they were jettisoned upwards, either way its what happens to anchoring chain that I wonder about, so did the buoyant mines you mention lack an anchoring chain and just float around with the tide?

Hi Jahsavage,
First let me correct an error, the boats built as minelayers were named after sea mammals, Seal, Ocelot, Narwhal etc. not rivers,my mistake.They laid 50 mines through a door at the rear end of the after casing, being moved along by a chain conveyor.I'm sure you know this, the casing is the freeflooding structure on top of the pressure hull Mines laid by British boats amounted to 28% of all laid by the Royal Navy during W.W.2. Nothing fell out of the bottom or came out of the top of the boat. There is no anchor chain on a buoyant mine, it's actually a thin wire cable on a reel which acts as the anchor. The whole unit goes to the bottom and after a preset time the mine separates from the reel/anchor and floats up to it's set depth. Mines are not normally seen on the surface unless they have broken adrift, and should be safe, or if the depth setting mechanism has malfunctioned.
R.R.:arrgh!: