The person writing the article probably didnt think about this while writing, but I did the work and found how it is possible that 3 destroyers and 1 minesweeper were able to make their way through minefield. On that specific location were mines laid down into depth of 5 meters while drought of those 3 Tátra-clas destroyers is 3 meters. The minesweeper SMS Basilisk have drought 1,5 meters. This is why they were able to get through the minefield without problems. The reason why the ship was sailing through minefield is also pretty simple. They had big delay after leaving Mali Lošinj, and because they had in plan another route back to Boka Kotorska (Bay of Kotor) the captain Paul Winter under the pressure of two high placed men from Österreich Lloyd made a decision to sail really close to the minefield. His second officer Tenze wasnt aware of this change, so when he steered the ship further away from the minefields Winter ordered ship to remain on course. Because of that there was an hassle between Tenze and Winter which lead to missing the right place to steer the ship away from minefields. Captain unaware of this went for a lunch while Tenze was at watch on bridge. When he realized what is going on it was too late and one of the mines exploded.
 | This is the discussion page for an IP user, identified by the user's IP address. Many IP addresses change periodically, and are often shared by several users. If you are an IP user, you may create an account or log in to avoid future confusion with other IP users. Registering also hides your IP address. |