Naval Mine Warfare Operational and Technical Challenges for Naval Forces (2001) / Chapter Skim
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C. Breaching By Line Charge Analogue
C. Breaching By Line Charge Analogue
Pages 161-166
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From page 161... ...
The total length of the 50-yd wide section through the surf zone and on the beach is estimated as about 250 yd, of which 100 yd are underwater. Surf and Beach Zone For the surf and beach section of the assault lane, from 10 ft of water and onto the beach, where a high density of mines and obstacles is likely, the task group proposes that aircraft deliver a row of large, bottom-penetrating bombs that explode below ground level under the water bottom, and under the beach, to eject many of the mines and obstacles, and to form a channel deep enough that an LCAC could ride on water over the remaining 1Naval Studies Board, National Research Council.
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From page 162... ...
and to about 55 ft in completely dry sand for about the same depth of burial. The crater depths are greater up the beach than underwater.5 Work done at the Army's Waterways Experiment Station and the Atomic Energy Commission's project PLOWSHARE included use of row charges, buried in the bottom underwater, ranging from pounds to tons TNT equivalent, and detonated nearly simultaneously to approximate a line charge, to excavate boat channels.6 Thus, PLOWSHARE's subproject TUGBoAT7 excavated a boat channel and harbor in a coral bottom at 2Davis, L.K., and A.D.
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From page 163... ...
While based on data not including coral explosions, for 10 tons TNT equivalent, O'Keeffe and Young's formula, above, gives a 239-ft width for a burial depth of 27 ft below the bottom. Project PLOWSHARE's work on row charges on land also indicated than an excavated channel with fairly uniform, smooth sides can be achieved if the explosive spacing is about 30 percent greater than the individual crater radius.8 However, the TUGBOAT charges were spaced more closely, about one crater radius apart.
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From page 164... ...
1993. Hard Targets That Could Not Be Destroyed by Conventional Weapons, Technical Report SAIC 93/1060, Science Applications International Corporation, San Diego, Calif., March.
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From page 165... ...
However, the performance of the GP-T10 supports the feasibility of part of the concept. A recent Lockheed studyl4 discusses bomblets dispersed from available dispensers to explode surface or slightly buried mines on the beach, assuming a kill radius equal to crater radius.
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From page 166... ...
In summary, it is suggested that an approach using a row of deeply penetrating, large, simultaneously detonated explosive weapons delivered in a line-charge analog could quickly clear a channel through the surf zone and mined beach areas with surprise or in an emergency using aircraft. Uncertainties are the crater performance for different types of bottoms and beaches, the final location and state (exploded or unexploded)
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