| North Sea Mine Barrage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War I | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
 United Kingdom United States |
 Germany | ||||
The North Sea Mine Barrage, also known as the Northern Barrage, was a large minefield laid easterly from the Orkney Islands to Norway by the United States Navy (assisted by the Royal Navy) during World War I. The objective was to inhibit the movement of U-boats from bases in Germany to the Atlantic shipping lanes bringing supplies to the British Isles. Rear Admiral Lewis Clinton-Baker, commanding the Royal Navy minelaying force at the time, described the barrage as the "biggest mine planting stunt in the world's history."[1] Larger fields with greater numbers of mines were laid during World War II.[2]
- ^ Belknap, Reginald Rowan The Yankee mining squadron; or, Laying the North Sea mining barrage (1920) United States Naval Institute pp.5,15,18-22,27-36,43-47,56,82-83,101&108
- ^ "Munitions Contamination of Marine Renewable Energy Sites in Scottish Waters" (PDF). QinetiQ. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.