Editing Naval mine (section)

=== Early use ===
[[File:Chinese Naval Mine.JPG|thumb|upright|A 14th-century illustration of a naval mine and page description from the ''[[Huolongjing]]'']]

Naval mines were first invented by Chinese innovators of [[History of China|Imperial China]] and were described in thorough detail by the early [[Ming dynasty]] artillery officer [[Jiao Yu]], in his 14th-century military treatise known as the ''[[Huolongjing]]''.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 203 205">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 203–205.</ref> [[History of Science and Technology in China|Chinese records]] tell of naval explosives in the 16th century, used to fight against Japanese pirates (''[[wokou]]''). This kind of naval mine was loaded in a wooden box, sealed with [[putty]]. General [[Qi Jiguang]] made several timed, drifting explosives, to harass Japanese pirate ships.<ref>{{cite book |title=Origins of Chinese science and technology |page=18 |author=Asiapac Editorial |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C12zMvE1Y_0C&pg=PA18 |publisher=Asiapac Books |year=2007 |edition=3 |isbn=978-981-229-376-3 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The ''[[Tiangong Kaiwu]]'' (''The Exploitation of the Works of Nature'') treatise, written by [[Song Yingxing]] in 1637, describes naval mines with a ripcord pulled by hidden ambushers located on the nearby shore who rotated a steel wheel flint mechanism to produce sparks and ignite the fuze of the naval mine.<ref name = "needham volume 5 part 7 205"/> Although this is the rotating steel wheel's first use in naval mines, [[Jiao Yu]] described their use for [[land mine]]s in the 14th century.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 199">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 199.</ref>

The first plan for a sea mine in the West was by Ralph Rabbards, who presented his design to Queen [[Elizabeth I of England]] in 1574.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 205">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 205.</ref> The Dutch inventor [[Cornelius Drebbel]] was employed in the Office of Ordnance by [[King Charles I of England]] to make weapons, including the failed "floating petard".<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/drebbel_cornelis.shtml | title = Historic Figures: Cornelius Drebbel (1572–1633) | work = BBC History | access-date = 2007-03-05 | archive-date = 27 December 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191227012831/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/drebbel_cornelis.shtml | url-status = live }}</ref> Weapons of this type were apparently tried by the English at the [[Siege of La Rochelle]] in 1627.<ref>{{cite book | title = Discoveries and inventions of the 19th century | author=Robert Routledge | isbn= 1-85170-267-9 | publisher = Bracken Books | year = 1989 |page = 161}}</ref>

[[File:Bushnell mines.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[David Bushnell (inventor)|David Bushnell’s]] mines destroying a British ship in 1777]]
American [[David Bushnell (inventor)|David Bushnell]] developed the first American naval mine, for use against the British in the [[American War of Independence]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAfP2w6SgK8C&pg=PA12|page=12|title=Oceanography and Mine Warfare|author=National Research Council (U.S.). Ocean Studies Board, National Research Council (U.S.). Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources|publisher=National Academies Press|year=2000|isbn=0-309-06798-7|access-date=2011-12-31}}</ref> It was a watertight keg filled with [[gunpowder]] that was floated toward the enemy, detonated by a sparking mechanism if it struck a ship. It was used on the [[Delaware River]] as a drift mine, destroying a small boat near its intended target, a British warship.<ref>Gilbert, Jason A., L/Cdr, USN. "Combined Mine Countermeasures Force", Naval War College paper (Newport, RI, 2001), p. 2.</ref>