The Japanese had some unusual ideas in mine design. Or maybe, bad ideas. The Mark 4 is a strange one. This mine has two Type 3 ceramic mines internally as the main charge. It uses a Bakelite Type 3 fuze connected by strings to a rotating "spider" triggering mechanism. The mine was accepted but never actually produced. Check out the pics below. An example of this mine does exist. I found an internet military museum that has an actual Mark 4 in their collection. I can't recall the museum name or website address. I do remember it being misidentified. The caption below the picture describes the mine as a German naval mine. Interesting.
This mine is described on pages 43-44 in "Oriental and European (except British, French, German, Italian and Soviet) Mine Warfare Equipment" TM 5-223B Nov. 1953 Dept of Army.
Jim
JapaneseOrdnance(at)yahoo.com
Wish I had this one in my collection. Experimental stuff is so hard to get.
This mine is described on pages 43-44 in "Oriental and European (except British, French, German, Italian and Soviet) Mine Warfare Equipment" TM 5-223B Nov. 1953 Dept of Army.
Jim
JapaneseOrdnance(at)yahoo.com
Wish I had this one in my collection. Experimental stuff is so hard to get.
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