Q-Ball
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Joined: 6/25/2002
From: Chicago, Illinois
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In a general sense, it seems like the different combattants came into the Pacific War with varying ideas on the use of mines.
From reading KAIGUN, I know the IJN was definitely interested in mine warfare, an outgrowth of the role that mines played in the Russo Japanese War (where the greatest loss the IJN suffered was to Russian mines, when 2 pre-dreadnaughts were lost to a minefield). As a result of this experience, the IJN placed a fairly high emphasis on mine warfare, with the result that several minelayers were built, up to the large minelayer/cruiser OKINOSHIMA. Given the actual role that mines played in the Pacific, this has to be considered a waste of valuable resources in retrospect.
I don't really know, but from the OOB it looks like the USN didn't really place that much emphasis on it. There were few dedicated USN Minelayers, and they were really for harbor defense. Offensive minelaying didn't seem to figure into USN doctrine much.
The Dutch Navy, for whatever reason, seems mine obsessed from the OOB. The Dutch start with several dedicated minelayers, and piles of minesweepers, including so many coastal minesweepers you want to just sink some to get rid of them. They built minelaying subs, and seems like mines were a big part of Dutch doctrine. No idea, maybe it was thought of as an equalizer, or defensive weapon.
Anyway, I wonder if anyone better read on the subject can shed a little more light on pre-war mine doctrine, and any tidbits on the limited roles that mines played. I know a handful of ships were lost to mines in the Solomons, but in the end mines played a very minor role in the Pacific. That's my understanding, anyway.
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Mines in the Pacific--Historical View - 
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