The landing operation went well, but as expected.

To say that, in the entire landing operation, the greatest threat to the landing fleet and the landing force is actually the mines in the strait.

On the first day of landing, three landing ships were caught in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but fortunately they were only severely damaged, and all of them eventually struggled back to Socotra.

At the time of planning, the possible losses were taken into account, and there would certainly be a large redundancy in the delivery of ammunition to the front line.

The loss of 3 landing ships specializing in the delivery of combat materiel, almost 1500 tons of ammunition, and several thousand tons of fuel supplied to the armored forces is not much of a problem.

In the following days, landing ships struck mines in the strait almost every day.

It was not that the minesweepers did not do their best, but to the landing beaches, the landing ships had to pass through minefields, and the Royal Navy of Bran had deployed a large number of drifting mines in minefields far from the main channel.

This kind of mine is not very powerful, but it is extremely difficult to sweep away.

Most of the landing ships that struck the mine were injured by drifting mines, and only a few of them were unlucky enough to hit anchor mines that were not discovered by the minesweepers.

If anything, the more than 40 minesweepers that participated in the landing combat operation are absolutely indispensable.

Without these 40-odd minesweepers, not only would more landing ships be lost, but the landing operation would probably have ended in a fiasco.

On November 10, the day of the landing operation, a few hours before dawn, four of the 14 minesweepers responsible for opening the channel were struck by mines, and all of them were to clear the drifting mines that had been discovered, and ventured into dangerous waters without preparation.

All four minesweepers were sunk, and hundreds of officers and men were killed or all the same.

Fortunately, it was the efforts of the minesweepers that they were able to open up a barely safe channel before dawn.

Otherwise, the landing fleet would not have been able to bring the marines ashore at all.

Over the next few days, three more minesweepers were lost.

According to incomplete statistics, before the end of the first phase of the landing operation, that is, by 18 November, the 44 minesweepers participating in the battle had discovered and cleared a total of more than 1,400 mines, of which about 1,000 were in the waters near the landing site, posing a huge threat to the landing ships.

If anything, it was with these minesweepers that the landing ground was opened up, and the landing operation entered the second stage.

From the point of view of combat efficiency, the minesweepers of the Imperial Navy were definitely very high.

The point is that the Imperial Navy has the best minesweepers and the most experienced officers and men in the world.

Before the outbreak of the Great War, the Imperial Navy designed and built several large minesweepers, but due to financial constraints, only one or two of each type were built.

In fact, all of these large minesweepers are of an experimental nature, and their main value is to test and inspect minesweeping equipment.

In addition, all large minesweepers are built according to the standards of the mother ship, ensuring that in times of war, they can support small minesweepers in their missions.

In nature, it is similar to a submarine support ship.

By the time of the war, all these large minesweepers became "mother ships".

Carrying out minesweeping tasks on the front line are all small minesweepers of much lower tonnage, most of which are less than 500 tons, which can only be regarded as minesweepers.

Crucially, almost all of these minesweepers are made of wood hulls.

Not that the empire did not have enough steel, but it was better with wood.

The reason is that the Imperial Navy has already developed magnetic mines, and there is enough reason to believe that several major opponents also have magnetic mines.

Wood is not magnetic, so it has a lower probability of detonating a magnetic mine.

The disadvantage is that the tonnage of the minesweeper is too small, it does not have the ability to fight in the ocean, and the endurance is also limited, so it needs the support of the mother ship.

During the high-intensity minesweeping operations, the officers and men of the minesweepers will also take turns to go to the mothership for rest and recuperation in order to maintain their vigorous combat effectiveness.

Because the tonnage is larger, the size and mass of the mothership can be carried, and the minesweeper cannot be carried, or it does not need to be equipped with all the technical equipment of the minesweeper.

From this point of view, the main value of the minesweeper is to serve as a forward platform to support the minesweeper.

Critically, the Imperial Navy also has the most advanced mine detection equipment in the world.

That's right, sonar developed from ultrasonic detectors.

Although in the war, sonar gained a wider range of its due, and in the later period, it became a sharp weapon for anti-submarine torpedoes, and even used in anti-submarine torpedoes, so that torpedoes have self-guidance capabilities, but before the outbreak of the war, the purpose of the Imperial Navy's investment in the development of sonar was to obtain a means that could effectively detect sunken mines and anchor mines, as well as to allow minesweepers to detect mines in time from a safe distance and reduce the risk of mine clearance.

Magnetic mines with magnetic induction fuses, mostly anchor mines or sunken mines, are hidden under the surface of the water.

Before the advent of sonar, the only way to sweep away magnetic mines was for minesweepers to venture into minefields and detonate them by creating a strong magnetic field.

At one time, the Imperial Navy attached great importance to the speed of minesweepers, and built several minesweepers with a speed of up to 45 knots.

After testing, it was found that the speed in the block was useless.

The Imperial Navy even thought of using a large aircraft to tow an electromagnetic coil and fly over the mine-laying sea area, and the magnetic mine was detonated by the strong magnetic field generated by the electromagnetic coil.

As for the results, they are no less than ideal.

During the test, several transport planes were also dropped.

It wasn't until sonar appeared that this problem was solved.

Fortunately, the Imperial Navy in this war, at least so far, has not faced advanced mines, or not a lot of advanced mines.

Up to now, whether it is on the Guia Ocean or on the Fanyan Ocean, most of the mines used by the alliance group are old-fashioned mines that have been sealed for more than 20 years.

The reason is also very simple, the alliance group produced too many mines in the last war, and as a result, by the end of the war, many mines were not used.

In addition, mines are stored for decades.

In the mothballed state, even without regular maintenance, the mine can be stably stored for 30 years, or even 50 years.

Many of the mines laid in the last war are still able to detonate normally after more than 20 years, and they are extremely powerful.

As a result, the alliance did not produce many mines, and all the mines were laid in stockpiles.

Only in a small number of key sea areas, such as outside military ports, have a small number of new mines been laid.

If all of them are new-type mines, such as magnetic mines, let alone 40 minesweepers, even if they triple and send 120 mines, they may not be able to sweep away more than 1,400 mines and open up enough landing grounds for hundreds of ships to anchor in nine days.

Of course, from a tactical point of view, these minesweepers are the strength of the Imperial Navy.

From another point of view, the defenders of the Kib fortress would certainly not have imagined that the Imperial Navy would send so many minesweepers to forcibly carve out a safe passage in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It was the blind confidence in the minefield that made Bran's army feel that the Imperial army would not land on the north side of the fortress.

As a result, in just 9 days, the Imperial Navy not only sent 2 Marine Divisions ashore, but also advanced the elite assault force to the perimeter of the Kib Fortress.

In fact, just a few days ago, Bran's army considered the landing operation in the north to be a feint.

The reason is that there are not many landing ships that appear there, and they all come and go in a hurry.

By the time Bran's army came to its senses, the Imperial Marines had already arrived in the city, and the main force had begun to come ashore.

Of course, the main force is the Army, not the Marine Corps.