The Navy’s offensive mine-warfare capability gap widens every year, as doctrinal foundations erode. Without significant and purposeful research, development, testing, and evaluation efforts, the Navy is likely to find itself entirely on the defensive end of mine warfare for the next several decades. To inform such research efforts, a cohort within the Systems Engineering Department at the Naval Postgraduate School looked to history for guidance. The first known use of mobile mines—in a minor naval footnote to the American Revolutionary War known as “The Battle of the Kegs”—led the team to pose the question: What would a 21st-century equivalent to that battle look like?
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