September 8, 200619 yr Nearly 50 World War II, Soviet Mines Found Off EstoniaBy DAVID MARDISTE, REUTERS, TALLINN, Estonia DefenseNews Dozens of World War II and Soviet-era mines have been found off the coast of Estonia during a clearance operation involving 27 ships from 14 countries, a spokesman for the exercise said on Sept. 7. Lieutenant Andres Sang said that 47 sea mines had been located, including 20 over the past 24 hours. The mines are in the process of being destroyed. The mines that were found primarily lay to the north of Naissaar Island not far from the Estonian capital Tallinn, Baltic News Service BNS reported. Military officials said that the main shipping lanes in the region were cleared after World War II. Operations to clear the tens of thousands of mines left in the region began in the early 1990s. "We don’t know how many there are, but there were possibly over 80,000 mines laid in the Gulf of Finland and many of these have yet to be cleared," Sang said. He said that although the mines were full of active explosive material, they were not considered dangerous to shipping. "The danger comes from ... a mine being washed up on shore and someone then tries to open it or hit it," he said. "Then it is possible it could explode." The mine clearance involved vessels from Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Poland, the Baltic states, Finland, Sweden and Russia. There's a Harpoon Classic scenario depicting a very similar mine clearance operation. Check it out on StrategyZoneOnline archives: MCMForceNorth.
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