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RE: The Story of My Life so Far - Part 81: One year as the Commanding Officer of the Minehunter Cybèle
Curious about the mines, did you use sonar to find them? And if so, was it easy to distinguish between floating debris and actual mines?
Yes, a sonar with a frequency of 400 kHz. Because of the high frequency, the ship can detect mines only close to it, say less than 300 metres.
The mines are on the bottom of the sea, they are not floating.
Because after all these years, when we thought we had found a mine from World War II, as there was no real danger, we would send the divers to make sure it was a real mine. Then, they would put a small quantity of explosive on the mine an detonate it from a distance (around 200 metres).
Thanks for the answer.
So I'm guessing the divers never reported a treasure chest of gold or silver ;-)