Editing Naval mine (section)

== Description ==
Mines can be laid in many ways: by purpose-built [[minelayer]]s, refitted ships, submarines, or [[aircraft]]—and even by dropping them into a harbour by hand. They can be inexpensive: some variants can cost as little as US $2,000, though more sophisticated mines can cost millions of dollars, be equipped with several kinds of sensors, and deliver a [[warhead]] by [[rocket]] or [[torpedo]].

[[File:British Mk 14 Sea Mine.jpg|thumb|upright|British Mk 14 sea mine]]
Their flexibility and cost-effectiveness make mines attractive to the less powerful belligerent in [[asymmetric warfare]]. The cost of producing and laying a mine is usually between 0.5% and 10% of the cost of removing it, and it can take up to 200 times as long to clear a minefield as to lay it. Parts of some [[World War II]] naval minefields still exist because they are too extensive and expensive to clear.<ref>{{Citation |author=Paul O'Mahony |title=Swedish navy locates German WWII mines |newspaper=The Local Europe AB |date=16 June 2009 |url=http://www.thelocal.se/20090616/20102 |access-date=8 March 2016 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309075947/http://www.thelocal.se/20090616/20102 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some 1940s-era mines may remain dangerous for many years.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2019-05-19|title=Isle of Wight: WW2 sea mine detonated by Navy|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-48327618|access-date=2020-11-18|archive-date=7 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107231119/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-48327618|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mines have been employed as offensive or defensive weapons in rivers, lakes, estuaries, seas, and oceans, but they can also be used as tools of [[psychological warfare]].<!-- Tom Clancy once wrote (in ''Submarine'', IIRC), it doesn't take actual mines to make a minefield, just a press release: just because minesweepers don't find any doesn't mean there aren't any... -->  Offensive mines are placed in enemy waters, outside harbours, and across important shipping routes to sink both merchant and military vessels. Defensive minefields safeguard key stretches of coast from enemy ships and submarines, forcing them into more easily defended areas, or keeping them away from sensitive ones.

Shipowners are reluctant to send their ships through known minefields. Port authorities may attempt to clear a mined area, but those without effective minesweeping equipment may cease using the area. Transit of a mined area will be attempted only when strategic interests outweigh potential losses. The decision-makers' perception of the minefield is a critical factor. Minefields designed for psychological effect are usually placed on [[trade route]]s to stop ships from reaching an enemy nation. They are often spread thinly, to create an impression of minefields existing across large areas. A single mine inserted strategically on a shipping route can stop maritime movements for days while the entire area is swept. A mine's capability to sink ships makes it a credible threat, but minefields work more on the mind than on ships.<ref name=G&B/>

[[International law]], specifically the Eighth [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907#Hague Convention of 1907|Hague Convention of 1907]], requires nations to declare when they mine an area, to make it easier for civil shipping to avoid the mines. The warnings do not have to be specific; for example, during World War II, Britain declared simply that it had mined the English Channel, [[North Sea]] and French coast.{{cn|date=November 2024}}