The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

at different heights, and many floated, half submerged, like a buoy. If a
vessel hit one of its contact horns, the charge exploded.
The minelaying did not take long. Between them, the minelayers laid
some 300 mines along a fifteen-mile stretch, and after a few hours they
headed back to Immingham. It was the comparative speed with which
mines could be laid that bothered Fricke. He feared that the British would
soon catch wind of any major mine-clearing operation, and then they would
hastily lay some more.
The Germans had, meanwhile, been laying their own mines, although
because of the lack of suitable ships, they were not as proficient at the task
as the British. The S-boat flotillas had been roped into these duties,
although each boat could only carry between six and eight at a time. The
Luftwaffe had also been carrying out minelaying operations. This had
largely been left to 9th Fliegerdivision, of which KG 4 was a part. Hajo
Herrmann was involved in a number of such missions during the first ten
days of August – not creating a protective barrier in the Channel, but trying
to block up the mouths of harbours and ports by dropping mines from their
bomb bays. Most were 1,000 kg magnetic or acoustic mines. He did not
enjoy these missions at all. ‘Minelaying and the positioning of the mines,’
he says, ‘was a very dangerous thing.’ At Plymouth, for example, where he
laid mines several times, there was only a narrow passage into the port, and
underneath was one of the heavier concentrations of anti-aircraft fire. ‘We
had to go down to only 300 or 200 metres,’ he says, ‘and we had to pass
slowly through this passage at just 180 mph or so. It was a terrible thing to
pass through there.’
The Royal Navy did have specifically designed minesweepers, but most
were converted trawlers from the Royal Navy Patrol Service, better known
as Harry Tate’s Navy. This had been formed on the eve of war at Lowestoft
on the Suffolk coast with a call to all Royal Navy Reserve to hurriedly
report to the holiday camp, Sparrow’s Nest. Six trawlers and their crews
were the first to arrive and report for duty at this eccentric new
headquarters. They then sailed for Dover to be converted into
minesweepers. Almost a year on, there were over a thousand drifters,
trawlers and whalers in the Patrol Service, skippered by RNR men and
crewed by fishermen, tugmen and lightermen. These men were tough,
weatherbeaten and hard as nails. They cared little for naval rules and
regulations, many of their ships had long ago seen better days, and they