This minefield accounted for two enemy submarines and there was little further submarine activity in that vicinity, which should be credited largely as an achievement of our squadron. And as a sample of quality before the North Sea mining began, the Baltimore’s work gave our colleagues confidence that we could do our part—by far the largest portion—in that great, open sea operation. As immortalized in our song:
“The Baltimore was the first away.
She traveled a thousand miles a day,
To show the Allies the lively way
Of the Yankee Mining Squadron.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Mine Assembling and Embarking
Following the conference on board the Queen Elizabeth, our bases worked full blast on the mines for the first operation. One group assembled and tested the anchors, another the mines, a third the plummet, a fourth the plummet and anchor together, and a fifth, the final assembly, of mine and anchor complete—called a unit. A section of mine track of standard gauge sufficed to test the anchor wheels and thus obviate trouble on board from their binding or dropping between the ship’s tracks during minelaying, possibly causing an interrupted string. It speaks well for the manufacture, for the testing at the bases, and for the ship’s mine track installations, that no such interruption ever occurred in the whole series of operations.
Mines and Mine Anchors Awaiting Assembly.