Naval Mine Identification Manual — OP-898

Ordnance Pamphlet 898, First Revision, is the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance's official mine identification manual — outline drawings of every type of naval mine in general use as of October 1943, prepared so that forces ashore and afloat could identify a mine on sight and file an accurate report. It classifies naval mines as either controlled (fired by an observer from shore or ship) or independent, with independent mines further split into contact mines (fired when a horn or antenna is disturbed) and noncontact or "influence" mines (fired by the mere presence of metal, sound, or other disturbance nearby). By final position in the water, independent mines are drifting (floating on or just under the surface), moored (held below the surface by a chain or wire to a bottom anchor), or ground mines (heavier than water, resting on the bottom). The manual walks through the identification points used to tell one type from another — color, size and shape, and external fittings such as cover plates, firing horns, hydrostats, and mooring wires or antennae — before presenting the 67 individual mine types in outline drawings, arranged by shape: spherical mines without horns, spherical mines with horns, spherical mines with a center section, mines with antennae and floats, and cylindrical or odd-shaped mines.

Using the viewer: Use the Full Table of Contents button (bottom-right) to jump straight to any of the 67 mine types. Use the double caret (») symbol at top right of viewer to adjust scrolling.

⇓ Download OP-898 PDF — 1.7 MB