The Revolutionary War Gave Birth To The Age Of Naval Mine Warfare

Updated Jul 2, 2020 3:17 PM EDT

Sea mines are among the most widespread, deadliest and strategically effective anti-access/area-denial weapons available today. A huge selection of sea mine types can be deployed by submarines, ships or aircraft—from simple floating contact mines to smart “influence mines” that lay in wait until a target’s pre-programmed signature triggers their attack. Yet 239 years ago, it was a group of break-away colonists fighting for their independence from the British Crown who put the modern idea of a sea mine to work for the first time.

David Bushnell, the same Yale graduate and secretive naval weapons inventor who built the first attack submarine, the Turtle, also designed and built the first modern naval mines for a not-quite-yet United States.

Very crude naval mine-like devices were designed by Chinese warlords hundreds of years before the Revolutionary War. They used ox bladders as dry bags and pig intestines as snorkels, as well as very crude timed or manual cable fuses, each with questionable success. Centuries past before Bushnell used his naval explosives knowledge to come up with a totally different trigger mechanism, one that was fired when the mine struck an object, making the naval mine concept much more relevant and deadly.

Bushnell’s contact-triggering “keg” mine was made up of a fairly simple watertight wooden keg filled with gunpowder and attached to a float. The idea was to float the mines, also called torpedoes at the time, with the prevailing current towards enemy warships docked or anchored in a channel. Once the mine came in contact with something solid the flintlock fuse would be punched, then the keg would detonate.

On August 13, 1777, Bushnell and his team attempted to use his contact-trigger mines for the first time, deploying two of them in an attempt to sink the sixth-rate British frigate the HMS Cerberus anchored in Black Point Bay, just west of New London. Bushnell guided a small whaling boat in the darkness up toward the frigate and released two mines in tow far apart in hopes one would ride the current accurately to the hull of the Cerberus .

One of the two mines floated right on course toward the Cerberus when it was snared by a schooner that was anchored between Bushnell’s release point and the targeted frigate. The curious British sailors aboard the schooner hoisted the weapon aboard when it detonated, killing three sailors, severely injuring another and sinking the schooner.

The HMS Cerberus remained unharmed.

Although the mission was not a total success, it was the first time a ship had been sunk by a modern contact mine and the event caused the HMS Cerberus , which had been prowling the waters off of Connecticut, to redeploy immediately to Newport so the Captain could warn his Royal Navy superiors of the new weapon he’d encountered.

Bushnell tried again four months later, this time unleashing 20 slightly improved mines on the Delaware River, near Bordentown, New Jersey. The plan was to float the mines down the river and sink British ships anchored in Philadelphia harbor. Although none of the keg mines hit a large British vessel, a small boat was struck, killing a couple of young boys. Still, the massive blast freaked out British naval commanders so much that they ordered pretty much anything floating in the water to be shot from a distance. For over a day the British waged a full-out war on Bushnell’s mines and everything else floating on the Delaware River.

An engraving depicting an artist’s impression of the Battle of the Kegs., Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images

The event was immortalized a month later in the rousing propaganda ballad, “The Battle of the Kegs.”

Although George Washington had been very supportive of Bushnell’s secret maritime super-weapons, this was the last time mines were used during the revolutionary war. Yet the technology would become a staple of warfare in the decades and centuries that followed .

In fact, when Admiral David Farragut coined the phrase “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” at the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War , he was actually referring to naval mines—many of which were very similar to Bushnell’s Keg invented nearly a century earlier during America’s fight for independence.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

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更新于美国东部时间2020年7月2日下午3:17

水雷是当今应用最广泛、杀伤力最强、战略效能最高的反介入/区域拒止武器之一。潜艇、舰艇或飞机可以部署种类繁多的水雷——从简单的漂浮接触式水雷到智能“影响水雷”，后者潜伏待命，一旦目标出现预设信号便会触发攻击。然而，早在239年前，一群为摆脱英国统治而战的殖民地居民就首次将现代水雷的概念付诸实践。

大卫·布什内尔，这位耶鲁大学毕业生，同时也是一位神秘的海军武器发明家，他建造了第一艘攻击型潜艇“海龟号”，还为当时还未完全独立的美国设计并建造了第一批现代水雷。

早在革命战争爆发前数百年，中国军阀就设计出了非常简陋的类似水雷的装置。他们用牛膀胱作防水袋，用猪肠作通气管，还使用了非常简陋的定时或手动引信，但这些装置的效果都令人怀疑。几个世纪后，布什内尔运用他掌握的海军炸药知识，发明了一种完全不同的引爆机制——当水雷撞击目标时就会引爆，这使得水雷的概念更加实用，也更具杀伤力。

布什内尔的接触引爆式“木桶”水雷由一个装满火药、连接在浮标上的简易防水木桶组成。其原理是利用当时被称为鱼雷的水雷，顺着水流漂向停泊或锚泊在航道中的敌方军舰。一旦水雷接触到坚硬物体，燧发枪引信就会被击发，引爆木桶。

1777年8月13日，布什内尔和他的团队首次尝试使用他研制的接触触发式水雷，他们投放了两枚水雷，试图击沉停泊在新伦敦以西黑点湾的英国六级护卫舰“刻耳柏洛斯”号。布什内尔在夜色中驾驶一艘小型捕鲸船靠近护卫舰，并投放了两枚相距甚远的水雷，希望其中一枚能借助水流精准地击中“刻耳柏洛斯”号的船体。

两枚水雷中的一枚顺着“刻耳柏洛斯”号的航向漂去，却被一艘停泊在布什内尔投放点和目标护卫舰之间的纵帆船捕获。船上好奇的英国水手将这枚水雷吊上船，水雷随即爆炸，造成三名水手死亡，一人重伤，纵帆船也沉没。

“地狱犬”号战舰毫发无损。

虽然这次任务并不完全成功，但这却是现代接触式水雷首次击沉船只，这一事件导致在康涅狄格州附近水域巡逻的“地狱犬”号立即重新部署到纽波特，以便舰长能够警告他的皇家海军上级他遇到的这种新式武器。

四个月后，布什内尔再次尝试，这次他在新泽西州博登镇附近的特拉华河上投放了20枚略加改进的水雷。他的计划是让这些水雷顺流而下，击沉停泊在费城港的英国船只。虽然这些桶装水雷没有击中任何大型英国船只，但一艘小船被击中，造成两名男孩丧生。然而，巨大的爆炸声吓坏了英国海军指挥官，他们下令远距离射击水中几乎所有漂浮物。英国人与布什内尔的水雷以及特拉华河上所有其他漂浮物展开了长达一天多的全面战争。

一幅描绘艺术家笔下“酒桶之战”的版画。图片来源：The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images

一个月后，这件大事被写进了振奋人心的宣传民谣《酒桶之战》中，并因此名垂青史。

尽管乔治·华盛顿曾非常支持布什内尔秘密研制的海上超级武器，但这却是美国独立战争期间最后一次使用水雷。然而，这项技术在随后的几十年乃至几个世纪里，却成为了战争中的主要武器。

事实上，当海军上将大卫·法拉格特在南北战争期间的莫比尔湾海战中说出“管他什么鱼雷，全速前进！”这句名言时，他实际上指的是水雷——其中许多水雷与近一个世纪前美国独立战争期间发明的布什内尔水雷非常相似。

祝大家七月四日快乐！

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