{"id":30215,"date":"2020-05-08T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T09:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/08\/the-us-navys-modernization-rush-must-not-harm-mine-countermeasures\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:27:23","slug":"the-us-navys-modernization-rush-must-not-harm-mine-countermeasures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/05\/08\/the-us-navys-modernization-rush-must-not-harm-mine-countermeasures\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Navy\u2019s modernization rush must not harm mine countermeasures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded that even in a time of unprecedented technological growth and development, simple and primitive threats have the ability to radically alter our way of life. In spite of astonishing medical advancements, some threats, unfortunately, remain timeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people have drawn comparisons between the current coronvirus pandemic and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. The Spanish flu was caused by an H1N1 virus that was first identified in the United States in military personnel in the spring of 1918. It would eventually infect one-third of the global population, killing approximately 675,000 people in the United States and an estimated 50 million people worldwide. All of this was happening in the midst of the \u201cwar to end all wars\u201d \u2014 World War I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the homeland was battling the flu pandemic, the U.S. Navy was battling the U-boat threat in the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In World War I, German submarines sank almost 5,000 ships, most of them merchant vessels. To help counter the U-boat threat, the United States and the United Kingdom embarked on an unprecedented and ambitious project: the construction of the North Sea Mine Barrage \u2014 a 230-mile-long underwater barrier of sea mines stretching from Aberdeen, Scotland, to Ekersund, Norway. The effort was a marvel of modern manufacturing, producing 1,000 sea mines every day. Over five months, the allies eventually laid over 70,000 sea mines, helping to contain the U-boat threat and protect allied shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\t