Allied mines not in use

[Jorge_Stanbury]

I have several mine types that are collecting dust in the pools... this while I am in extreme short supply of "active" mines

The following looks Soviet as per my google search:
Pattern 08/39 mine, KB mine, M-26, PLT-2
Can someone confirm?

Then, the mysterious M MkII mine --> Looks like a Dutch mine, as M MkIID mine is used in some Dutch submarines.. But I can't find any ship or submarine taking them


Nedless to say, my inventories of Mk6 and VH MkII are close to zero. I am even using submarines for defensive minelaying as Mk10 and VH MkII had not been used extensively

[Dragoastro]

Similar problems. I have several CM's that I haven't used since laying their initial loadout. Anyway to change which mines they use? Also how many mines do you need in a base hex to make it relatively "sub-proof"

[rms1pa]

most of this is WAD,
they did not want to make "war in the minefields" but but "war in the pacific".so you can place 4 or five large mine fields at start and airdrop mines later. defence from subs and mini subs comes from local asw in the port and asw on the approaches. larger ports 4?5? are relatively immune from subs but not minisubs.

rms/pa

[Feltan]

Jorge,

Unfortunately, I believe this is simply an artifact of the "anti-mine" bias that was part of WITP-AE. It is one of the very few areas of the game that I would say is broken, unrealistic and just poorly conceived and executed. Despite their extensive use in real life, many felt that the original WITP didn't portray mines well. While I would concur with that, the decision to "nerf" mine warfare in WITP-AE was not the solution the problem in the original WITP called for IMHO. Alas, this is what we have .... and a paucity of mines and an over abundance of underemployed minelayers is but just one of the problems of the current highly unrealistic mine warfare model.

Regards,
Feltan

[Yaab]

Jorge_Stanbury, at start you should have the following non-Soviet mines:

(Device id) Name:

1651 VH Mk II Mine - used by Dutch, Australian and British surface vessels
1719 M MK IID Mine - used by Dutch subs
1545 M Mk II Mine - used by Brit subs
1645 Mk 6 Mine - used by USN surface and sub

Device 1651 is crucial. You have got several Dutch vessels that can use several dozen of those mines at once. There are ships which load 75, 60 or 40 of these mines. Starting pool is 286 mines with 30 mines build per month (the numbers are from DaBigBabes C scen 28). It is easy to deplete the pool if you load the big Dutch CMs at start and CM Bungaree in Sydney.

Also, check if you haven't formed an Escort TF consisting solely of CMs. For some unknown reason, such TF reverts to minelaying TF and LOADS mines!!! I learnt it the hard way, when I was trying to evac all big (40-75 mine capacity) Dutch CMs to Cocos Island - they silently drained the VH mine pool.

I exclusively use small Dutch CMc (15 mine capacity) and Dutch subs for mining


PS.
Soviet mines:
PLT-2 is used by Soviet subs
Pattern 08/39 is used by Soviet surface vessels

[Jorge_Stanbury]

Thanks, I forgot about the (few) British submarines; they are the ones using M MkII

I have found submarine launched mines to be the short term "stop gap" measure of defensive mining. But I prefer to use USN, as their submarines are more numerous and torpedoes are still not working. They use Mark10s


And I found this:
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMRussian_Mines.htm

Model 1926, (M-26)
Moored contact mine. Total weight 2,116 lbs. (960 kg), charge was 551 lbs. (250 kg) of TNT, used percussion mechanical fuze. Maximum depth - 425 feet (130 m). Main Soviet mine of between the wars period and most numerous mine of the Soviet Union at the start of World War II. As of June 1941 there were a total of 26,823 mines in storage. It was the most widely used Soviet mine of World War II with 16,794 mines laid down during the first year of the war.

Model 1908/39
Moored contact mine. Modification of the 1908 mine. Used by the Russian/Soviet Navy until 1960s. Total weight 1,305 lbs. (592 kg), charge was 254 lbs. (115 kg) of TNT, used 5 Hertz horns. Maximum depth - 390 feet (120 m).

KB, 1940
Moored contact mine. Total weight 2347.9 lbs. (1065 kg), charge was 507 lbs. (230 kg) of TNT. Maximum depth - 850 feet (260 m). Best Soviet mine of World War II. Could be used as an ASW mine. As of June 1941 there were a total of 7,945 mines in storage.

PLT-2, 1942
Submarine launched mine with pneumatic flotation mechanism, which allowed the mine to be set at any depth and held it there for up to 10 days. Total weight 1,686 lbs. (765 kg), charge was 661 lbs. (300 kg) of TNT, used 5 Hertz horns. Maximum depth - any.

[crsutton]

Yeah, you have to be careful to not get your British subs sunk early in the game. They do not get new ones until 1944. I almost use them exclusively for mining. I have about given up on defensive minefields except where there are big CD units in place. They do not seem to have any effect on bombardments or Fast transports once they are detected. Instead I try to mine offensively at know choke points or at forward enemy bases where they might be reinforcing by fast transport. A steady flow of small minefields will sink some Japanese ships. I love it when a precious DD runs over a mine.

Most valuable mine is the American mark 12. This sub laid mine has about the same effect as a long lance torpedo. It is a ship killer. But you once again must be careful as only a handful of American subs come with the ability to lay the mark 12 mine. You don't want to lose them.

[rustysi]

It is easy to deplete the pool if you load the big Dutch CMs at start and CM Bungaree in Sydney.

The easiest way I've found to avoid loading mines onto ships that I don't wish to load with mines is to simply set the mines to stockpile.