Mine the Slot

[Kingfisher]

I always wondered why the allies didn't mine the slot as a reponse to the Tokyo express.

Lack of resources?
Fear of the field drifting into your own sea lanes?

I do remember reading about a Japanese ship hitting a mine somewhere around New Georgia, but If I recall it was laid by a Catalina squadron.

Why weren't dedicated minelayers used to block (or at least restrict) the entrance to Iron bottom sound?

[Long Lance]

Still no answers?

[tocaff]

Open water minefields are dangerous to everyone as they tend to drift and to maintain a field in an area not under your control is a bit dicey I would imagine.

Maybe the Allies didn't because they had their plans to move up The Slot themselves in the immediate future.

[Kingfisher]

Perhaps, but I think those plans went down with the Cruisers off Savo.

I would think that after the visit by Kongo and Haruna in mid October Vandergrift would have been screaming for some kind of naval interdiction.

[bigbaba]

now thats a very good question, king. i dont know the answer, but in the dark days after the battle of savo i can imagnie, that large mine fields could slow down the tokyo express or at least damage some of its ships to bring them into the range of the cactus airforce operating from handerson field.

i realy dont know why the allied mine warfare was so underdeveloped (earlier in the war) when compared with the axis forces.

you can see the same thing in the europe. the germans had some huge initial succes with magnetic mines early in the war, while the british mine efforts were nearly that succesfull at the end of the war.

[tocaff]

The US was much better at mine warfare late in the war.  The first Gulf War showed the USN to be unprepared for mine warfare and they still are trying to figure out how to sweep mines from coastal areas that are enemy held.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Kingfisher

.... I would think that after the visit by Kongo and Haruna in mid October Vandergrift would have been screaming for some kind of naval interdiction.

He eventually got it in the form of "Bull" Halsey.

[anarchyintheuk]

Anyone have an idea which way the current flows through the channel?

[Kingfisher]

The bathymetry of Iron Bottom Sound shows a generally cone-shaped morphology, with shallower
areas in the east and deeper areas to the west. Consequently, there is a natural gradient and corresponding
gravity flow of deep water to the west and northwest.....Due to the natural gradient to the west and northwest, deep-water circulation will be significantly influenced by gravity, causing a predominant westerly flow. In shallower areas, like on the shoals north of Guadalcanal Island and Nggela Pile, in addition to tidal streams, predominant winds and waves, will influence flow. As a result of tidal variations, currents change directions with falling and rising tides, as shown by
opposite arrows on the shoal areas in Figure 3. Bottom current flow of 2-3 knots (3.88-5.82 m s-1) has been
noted in these areas by hydrographic survey vessels (Hydrographer of the Navy, 1989 and Figure 3).

Source:
http://www.sopac.org/data/virlib/TR/TR0280.pdf

It would appear that a field laid off Capre Esperance would be a threat to anything coming down the slot from the direction of the Shortlands, but not so much for the anchorage off Lunga point or Tulagi, as the field would drift towards the Japanese.

However, to be fair I doubt the allies had anything close to the level of detail on the sound's hydrography as whats in this report.

[anarchyintheuk]

Thanks for the info. As you say they may not have had that information but it does seem to be an ideal situation for the allies to deploy mines. As you stated in your first post, I think the lack of resources (or imagination) was probably the cause.