| 摘要 |
The present invention relates to minehunting and disposal systems. Known methods of minehunting and disposal comprise the deployment of several relatively large ships each having a crew of the order of thirty personnel. The known ships are expensive since they have to be specially fabricated so as to present a low magnetic signature and low noise generation. This invention provides a system comprising a parent ship providing support facilities for a plurality of operational craft [10, 12, 14, 16], the operational craft [10, 12, 14, 16] being relatively small and being provided with known mine detection and destruction equipment [34]. The parent ship is preferably designed and equipped so as to be capable of carrying the operational craft [10, 12, 14, 16] on board, such that the operational craft may be transported to the area of deployment. The operational craft [10, 12, 14, 16] preferably have hulls [16] providing a substantial portion of its buoyancy submerged together with a relatively small water plane area, for example a Small Water Plane Area Twin Hull type craft. This system reduces the number of personnel exposed to a single risk and the operational craft present a low magnetic signature and low noise generation due to their size and these endowments are particularly enhanced if the preferred form of hull [16] is utilised. |
