Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/563

 The Mine-Layer Lays Mines As If They Were Eggs

The German mine-layer is a new and ingenious type. It carries no guns or torpedoes—nothing but mines confined in twos in inclined tubes at the bow. The mine itself (insert) has a sinker which carries it down to the bottom, where hinged legs are forced out and lie flat on the ocean bed. By means of a hydrostatic valve the mine is enabled to remain at the right dead level