Mark 60 CAPTOR

American antisubmarine naval mine

Maximum speed >28 knots (52 km/h)

Guidance
system

Active or passive/active acoustic homing, snake or circle search, reliable acoustic path (RAP) sound propagation^[2]^[1]^[3]

Launch
platform

Aircraft, surface ship and submarines^[2]^[1]^[3]

The Mark 60 CAPTOR (Encapsulated Torpedo) is the United States' only deep-water anti-submarine naval mine.^[4]^[3]^[2] It uses a Mark 46 torpedo^[2]^[3] contained in an aluminum shell that is anchored to the ocean floor.^[2] The mine can be placed by either aircraft, submarine or surface vessel.^[2]^[3] The torpedo, once placed, can last anywhere from weeks to months underwater.^[3] The original production contract of the CAPTOR mine was awarded to Goodyear Aerospace in 1972, and entered service in 1979.^[3] It was hoped to reduce minefield costs and used in the creation of a barrier of the "Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap to interrupt Soviet submarines in the event that deterrence failed."^[4]

The mine uses Reliable Acoustic Path (RAP)^[2]^[1] sound propagation to passively identify and track the difference between hostile submarine signatures, surface vessels and friendly submarines.^[3] Once identified, the torpedo leaves its casing to destroy its target.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j DiGiulian, Tony. "Mines of the United States of America - NavWeaps". www.navweaps.com. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Mk 60 Captor Mine | VP-4 Association". www.vp4association.com. 28 May 2011. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "U.S. Naval Mines - Captor program". www.hartshorn.us. Archived from the original on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
^ ^a ^b "Naval Mines and Mining: Innovating in the Face of Benign Neglect". Center for International Maritime Security. 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2017-04-22.