Parachute mine

They were mostly used in the Second World War by the Luftwaffe and initially by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command.

If the depth was greater than 8 feet (2.4 m), water pressure and the dissolving of a water–soluble plug would deactivate the clockwork time-detonator, and activate an anti-shipping detonator.

[2] The threat to shipping posed by magnetic detonators was effectively negated after a German parachute mine was captured intact when it landed in mud in the Thames Estuary.

From October 1940, mines were also dropped in raids on other British cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Coventry.

[2] Clearance of these was carried out by the Royal Navy, which quickly dispatched a team to London from HMS Vernon, while Army bomb disposal staff were warned that it was extremely inadvisable to attempt to render them safe without Naval guidance.

[5] The singer Al Bowlly was killed by a parachute mine which exploded outside his flat in Jermyn Street, London during the Blitz on 17 April 1941.

The operations were an extension of the blockade of Germany and targets were chosen by the Admiralty though the laying was carried out by the RAF.