Editing Naval mine (section)

==== Clearing WWII aerial mines ====
Between 600,000 and 1,000,000 naval mines of all types were laid in WWII. Advancing military forces worked to clear mines from newly-taken areas, but extensive minefields remained in place after the war. Air-dropped mines had an additional problem for mine sweeping operations: they were not meticulously charted. In Japan, much of the B-29 mine-laying work had been performed at high altitude, with the drifting on the wind of mines carried by parachute adding a randomizing factor to their placement. Generalized danger areas were identified, with only the quantity of mines given in detail. Mines used in [[Operation Starvation]] were supposed to be self-sterilizing, but the circuit did not always work. Clearing the mines from Japanese waters took so many years that the task was eventually given to the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Development of Mine Warfare: A Most Murderous and Barbarous Conduct |last=Youngblood |first=Norman |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=0-275-98419-2 |page=141 }}</ref>

For the purpose of clearing all types of naval mines, the Royal Navy employed German crews and minesweepers from June 1945 to January 1948,<ref>[http://www.janmaat.de/m_gesch0.htm German Mine Sweeping Administration (GMSA)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420121039/http://www.janmaat.de/m_gesch0.htm |date=2008-04-20 }} (in German), accessed: 9 June 2008</ref> organised in the [[German Mine Sweeping Administration]] (GMSA), which consisted of 27,000 members of the former ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' and 300 vessels.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8Uczn3-3F34C&pg=PA41 Google book review: ''German Seaman 1939–45'']{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Page: 41, author: Gordon Williamson, John White, publisher: Osprey Publishing, accessed: 9 July 2008</ref> Mine clearing was not always successful: a number of ships were damaged or sunk by mines after the war. Two such examples were the [[liberty ship]]s ''Pierre Gibault'' which was scrapped after hitting a mine in a previously cleared area off the Greek island of [[Kythira]] in June 1945,<ref>Elphick, Peter. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_V-uphhRPsC&pg=PA309 ''Liberty'', p. 309.]</ref> and ''Nathaniel Bacon'' which hit a minefield off [[Civitavecchia]], Italy in December 1945, caught fire, was beached, and broke in two.<ref>Elphick, Peter. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_V-uphhRPsC&pg=PA108 ''Liberty'', p. 108.] A third example is the liberty ship ''Robert Dale Owen'', renamed ''Kalliopi'', which broke in three and sank in the North [[Adriatic Sea]] after hitting a mine in December 1947. (Elphick, p. 402.)</ref>