http://ironmeninwoodenboats.com/?p=82 Small Boat Minesweeping in the U.S. Navy 1944-1970 Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:50:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://ironmeninwoodenboats.com/?p=82#comment-674 eds3rd Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:47:55 +0000 http://ironmeninwoodenboats.com/?p=82#comment-674 George Van Gilder - I talked to a diver who dove on one at the mouth and helped render it safe (I think) but he gave another Russian model number (AM-????) I tried converting this and nobody would agree to confirm the HATII equaled any Russian mine. Can you obtain a photo? The two guys that handled the ones upstream took a photo but ripped the mine out of the photo due to it's classified nature. Ed Sinclair George Van Gilder – I talked to a diver who dove on one at the mouth and helped render it safe (I think) but he gave another Russian model number (AM-????) I tried converting this and nobody would agree to confirm the HATII equaled any Russian mine. Can you obtain a photo? The two guys that handled the ones upstream took a photo but ripped the mine out of the photo due to it’s classified nature.
Ed Sinclair

]]> http://ironmeninwoodenboats.com/?p=82#comment-669 George T. Van Gilder Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:46:13 +0000 http://ironmeninwoodenboats.com/?p=82#comment-669 In fact there were at least two more HAT IIs outside the mouth of the Cua Viet. During 1970 I was the senior US Navy advisor to Coastal Group 11 in Cua Viet. One of our wooden junks was on patrol off the coast when it was literally blown into oblivion (largest piece of wreckage about one inch long). We investigated, but because of the strength of the explosion, we called for a minesweeper from Danang. The sweeper came up and located a large object on the sea floor about a quarter mile offshore. We called for EOD divers to investigate, and they found a HAT II, armed and ready to do further damage. We were ordered to recover the mine (no small task at a Vietnamese Coastal Group). The divers attached a tow line to the convenient nose ring, and we towed the device over the bar and into the Cua Viet River, then pulled up on the beach with jeep, surrounded it with sandbags, and the EOD divers severed the electrical connections with a shaped charge, and it did not detonate. My CO in Danang sent up a big chopper to pick up the pieces for intel. In fact there were at least two more HAT IIs outside the mouth of the Cua Viet. During 1970 I was the senior US Navy advisor to Coastal Group 11 in Cua Viet. One of our wooden junks was on patrol off the coast when it was literally blown into oblivion (largest piece of wreckage about one inch long).
We investigated, but because of the strength of the explosion, we called for a minesweeper from Danang. The sweeper came up and located a large object on the sea floor about a quarter mile offshore.
We called for EOD divers to investigate, and they found a HAT II, armed and ready to do further damage. We were ordered to recover the mine (no small task at a Vietnamese Coastal Group). The divers attached a tow line to the convenient nose ring, and we towed the device over the bar and into the Cua Viet River, then pulled up on the beach with jeep, surrounded it with sandbags, and the EOD divers severed the electrical connections with a shaped charge, and it did not detonate. My CO in Danang sent up a big chopper to pick up the pieces for intel.

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