Having finished with the series on hydrophones, now back to various interesting shots that I don't think I have posted before. This month, a nice shot of crewmen on a chaser, one with a rifle, preparing for duty on the minefields. As noted in earlier posts, a number of US 110-foot submarine chasers were assigned to duty in the minesweeping division in 1919.
The objective was to remove the massive mine fields in the North Sea, so that ships could again sail safely. They were under a time cruch, as commerce by sea was essential and winter was coming.
Chasers were assigned to follow the minesweepers and shoot and sink any mines that floated to the surface. The caption, "On the minefields," doesn't indicate which chaser, but I think this is SC 354.
Large version of the image is here.
Happy New Year!
--Todd Woofenden, editor