Chapter XV: Appendix: No. 6

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MASTERS OF MINE PLANTERS.

The matter contained in this appendix is primarily for the information of the masters of those vessels which are called into service for mine planting purposes upon the outbreak or threatening of hostilities.

The master shall request to be supplied with a copy of Regulations for Mine Planters, U. S. Army.

To each vessel will be assigned a coast artillery officer, who shall be the commanding officer of the vessel. All orders for the vessel shall be given to and through him. He shall have general charge of its business and be responsible for the proper care and disposition of all stores aboard, leaving to the master of the vessel the full and unquestioned control and authority over all matters for which he is professionally responsible.

Any orders to be given by the commanding officer concerning the vessel or its crew will be given to or through the master, except that when planting mines or operating any of the mining appliances or machinery aboard the vessel, the commanding officer, or an officer designated by him, may give instructions directly to any of the vessel’s officers or to members of the vessel’s crew who have duties directly connected with the mining work.

The duties and responsibilities of the master of a vessel engaged in submarine mine work do not differ materially from those devolving upon him when his vessel is otherwise employed. With respect to every duty the vessel may be called upon to perform, it may be stated that explicit directions as to where the vessel is to go and just what maneuvers it is to execute in the mine field will be given by the officer aboard, and it is then incumbent upon the master to execute the maneuver according to his best judgment.

The duties that vessels employed as mine planters are likely to be called upon to perform are as follows:

1. To lay out the mine fields.
2. To lay the multiple cable.
3. To plant mines.
4. To take up mines (including replacing defective mines
by good ones where necessary).
5. To take up the cable.

The commanding officer of the vessel is responsible for the proper equipment of the vessel with the necessary apparatus for mine planting, for the loading of all the matériel prior to the planting, and for the method of procedure under the above heads.

The master of the vessel will carry out the orders of the commanding officer and is concerned only in the handling of his boat to prevent accidents to it and to the boats engaged in the planting.

The following precautions will be observed by masters:

1. If current flows across the mine field the planting vessel, to avoid accidents, should always pass on the downstream side of the yawl boat holding the measuring line.

2. The greatest care should be taken that the measuring line and buoy ropes are not caught in the propellers. If the vessel has twin screws, the upstream propeller should be stopped as soon as the measuring line has been passed to the marking boat. In all cases a man with a boat hook should be posted near the anchor davits and another amidships, to hold the measuring line above the water and clear of the sides of the vessel. Keg buoys, and as much of the buoy rope as possible, should be held on the rail near the stern, letting the rope pay out slowly and under tension, until the propellers are past the rope, then the keg and the remainder of the rope may be thrown overboard.

3. A general rule is never to back either propeller when buoy ropes, measuring lines, or cables are being handled overboard at or near the stern of the vessel.

4. If it becomes absolutely necessary to reverse the propellers when paying out cable, men paying it out must haul it in taut and keep it above the wheel and clear of it. The planting vessel should not pass nearer than 25 feet to the distribution box boat when cable is leading out from the latter, nor should it pass over any cable, if it can be avoided, if the depth is less than 16 feet.

5. The vessel should proceed after passing the distribution box boat on such a course that cable will pay off smoothly without becoming entangled. If a cable becomes fouled and entangled, the end should be “let go” at once at the distribution box boat—the planter should proceed on, not stop nor back its propellers. Mine cable should never be made fast in the distribution box boat until after a mine is dropped. It is much better to drop the mine out of position than to endanger the propellers of the vessel. The propeller nearest the distribution box should be stopped the moment the bow of the vessel passes the distribution box boat on its course to drop a mine.

6. If, in planting, the vessel moves _against_ the direction of the current, there is little danger of overturning the distribution box boat if ordinary caution is observed. Should it be necessary to plant against a cross current or with it, it is best to pass the cable end to the distribution box boat by a launch or small boat. In this way the planter need not pass within 50 or 75 yards of the boat.

7. To avoid getting foul of the buoy rope or mine after the mine is dropped, the helm should be put over so as to throw the stern away from the mine. The vessel should be under good headway so that the propellers may be stopped until they are well past the buoy and buoy ropes of the mine. These points are important; failure to observe them will result disastrously.

In laying multiple cable, the course of the vessel invariably should be against the current. Rather than lay cable with the current it is advisable to postpone laying the cable until a change of the tide causes a favorable direction of current. In the end, time will be saved by waiting. Cable should pay off on the _upstream_ side of the vessel if any cross current is running. All care should be taken that the cable does not get caught in the vessel’s propellers. This is of the greatest importance.

As the cable pays out over a chock near the bow of the vessel a man should stand by with a 3-inch strap in readiness to stop the cable should it be necessary, and two men should manipulate brakes to prevent the cable from paying out too rapidly. This is especially necessary if the water is deeper than 50 feet.

Especial care is necessary in planting mines to avoid: (_a_) Colliding with yawl or distribution box boat; (_b_) picking up cable in the propeller; (_c_) getting the mine cable tangled; (_d_) drifting over the mine after it is dropped.