Mine hunting and sweeping vessels are often required to operate in mined waters between a friendly fleet and a hostile shore (many are sunk by mines,aircraft,warships and submarines,even when close to home),but during the Cold War the United Kingdom's Royal Navy invested in a large fleet of mine hunters and sweepers suitable for use only in benign environments.
It has been said that any ship can be a mine sweeper,once,and it is possible to determine if an area has been mined by means of a practice called "check sweeping" (a vessel sails in to the area in question and if it blows up then the area has been mined),during the Falklands War Her Majesty's Ship Alacrity was ordered to do just that in Falkland Sound because the Royal Navy did not have the means to clear mines in combat.
Had a mining sloop been part of the Falklands task force it would have used it's mine avoidance sonar to guide other warships around deep water mines on the way to the islands,before entering Falkland Sound it would have launched it's manned Mine Hunting Launches and sunk the Argentinian supply ship Isla de los Estados with it's guns whilst protecting them as they went about their business before laying it's own mines to block one end of the sound to the enemy,then used it's missiles and guns to protect amphibious vessels in San Carlos Water as they landed ground forces and finally provided those troops with fire support up to forty miles inland (it's twin gun turret delivering a similar weight of shells per minute as five batteries of light guns or five Amazon class frigates and having the depth of magazine to sustain that).
Despite her lack of speed to keep up with warships,lack of signature reduction features to reduce the probability of being attacked,lack of sensors,weapons and countermeasures to reduce the probability of being hit if attacked,lack of naval construction standards and protection to minimise damage if hit and lack of naval crew trained in damage control to limit fires and flooding,the Royal Fleet Auxiliary recently acquired the Motor Vessel Island Crown,a civilian Rolls Royce UT 776 CD class Platform Supply Vessel,and intends to use her to clear naval mines.
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