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A610 Ile d'Oléron World Naval Ships Forums Archive

A610 Ile d'Oléron

Posts 1 to 6

A610 Ile d'Oléron in Sète harbour 2001
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A610 in june 1987
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Setori: I had not realised Ile d'Oleron had been used for gunnery trials. Brian

[QUOTE=Brian Wentzell;10045335]Setori: I had not realised Ile d'Oleron had been used for gunnery trials. Brian[/QUOTE] She was also the trials platform for the SAAM-FR missile system which was developed for the carrier Charles de Gaulle. She had an interesting history, having begun life as a German merchant ship which during WWII was employed as a "Sperrbrecher." [I]"Sperrbrecher: While the primary objective of minesweepers was to detect mines and disable them, there was another concept of protecting ships against mines: to create a safe passage through a minefield by using [B][I]a special ship that sails in [/I][/B][B][I]front and detonates the mines before they can harm a much [/I][/B][B][I]more valuable ship[/I][/B]. The ships used for this task - the [B][I]Pathmakers[/I][/B] (or German: [B][I]Sperrbrecher[/I][/B]) had to be very robust to withstand mine explosions. By 1940 the magnetic mines were the biggest threat for ships entering or leaving their bases; laid by aircraft during the night they could cause severe damage when staying undetected. Therefore the Pathfinders were equipped with a VES-System, basically a huge magnetic field generator that could explode magnetic mines at a safe distance. From this time, Pathmakers were used to escort surface ships and Uboats from and to their bases to remove mines and - with their quite heavy AA armamment - give some additional protection against air attacks. Because of this, the ships were often equipped with barrage balloons. Over 100 Pathfinders - mainly former merchant ships with a size of about 5000 ts - were used during the war and it is not very surprising that about 50 % of them were lost in this dangerous role. Some of the surviving ships were later used as merchant ships again and served until the 1970s.[/I]"

Very interesting post on the "pathmakers" Tim...one learns something new almost every you log into the forum! Thanks for that bit... Regards,

[QUOTE=Don Boyer;10045353]Very interesting post on the "pathmakers" Tim...one learns something new almost every you log into the forum! Thanks for that bit... Regards,[/QUOTE] Thanks Don. Since joining the Forum I have found myself in awe of the depth and breadth of knowledge of many of our members, such as yourself. It's nice to be able to contribute the occasional tidbit from my own memory banks! Cheers!

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