A large number of naval mines were last month detected in Black Sea coastal areas. Kyiv accused Russia of laying the mines to blockade Ukraine’s sea ports, saying that they were the same type that had been stored at a Sevastopol armory that was seized by the Russian military during its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The Kremlin in turn accused Ukraine of laying more than 420 mines in the Black Sea to keep Russian warships from reaching its ports.
While neither side has claimed responsibility, drifting mines have appeared in the Bosphorus Strait — a major commercial shipping lane that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Fishing vessels registered to a number of regional nations, including Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine, have reported discovering mines in the Bosphorus, which led to the waterway being temporarily closed at the end of last month.
The Verband Deutscher Reeder, an association of German shipowners, said that at least 60 merchant vessels and their crews remain stranded in ports on the Ukrainian coast, while Turkish Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar last week said that Turkish Navy minesweepers had cleared and detonated a number of the drifting Black Sea mines.
As part of Taiwan’s next-generation shipbuilding program, the Ministry of National Defense had planned to construct anti-magnetic hulls for six minesweepers with Italian shipbuilder Intermarine. The minesweeper’s warfighting system would have been provided by US-based defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
However, after the project’s main contractor, Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co, became embroiled in a forgery and loan fraud case in 2017, the ministry was forced to suspend the minesweeper contract. Five years later, the navy’s need for minesweepers is no closer to being filled.
The navy had first proposed constructing a new class of minesweepers to replace its aging fleet of four Agile-class minesweepers, which had been commissioned into the US Navy in the 1950s and transferred to Taiwan in 1994. The vessels — renamed Yung Yang-class minesweepers — have hulls clad in wood to minimize their magnetic signature.
Even the navy’s German-built Yung Feng-class minehunters — its most modern countermeasure to mines — have been in service for more than three decades.
There is a pressing need to update these two classes of vessel. If Taiwan’s maritime shipping routes were to be blockaded, the consequences would be unimaginable. Given the nation’s precarious situation, it is difficult to overstate the value of the navy maintaining robust and modern mine countermeasures.
The mines that have appeared in the Black Sea and Bosphorus Strait have caused serious difficulties for the fishing vessels and commercial shipping of nations in the region. Marine insurance companies are refusing to cover any claims filed due to the Russia-Ukraine war. This means that the captains of these fishing and commercial vessels would be held personally liable for running into a mine.
The continuous supply of Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and other military equipment from the US and European nations to the Ukrainian military is only possible because Ukraine shares a land border with several European nations, including Poland to the north, Hungary to the west and Romania to the south. This steady supply of weapons over land routes via these friendly nations is providing vital support to Ukraine and enabling the country to sustain a war of attrition against Russia.
Unfortunately, Taiwan is surrounded by water and such overland aid would be impossible in the event of a war with China. If mines were laid in the shipping routes to Taiwan, the US and other countries wanting to assist Taiwan might consider sailing through minefields too high of a risk.
As the primary task of Taiwan’s overall defense strategy is “resolute defense” — holding the enemy at bay — ensuring unimpeded transit through the waters surrounding Taiwan is of paramount importance.
Given that its next-generation guided-missile frigate program — dubbed “Project Sea Quake” — has experienced multiple delays, the navy should consider moving to the top of its shipbuilding to-do list a fleet of next-generation minesweepers and minehunters. This would give Taiwan an updated fleet of minehunters and furnish the nation with a robust minesweeping capability.
Chang Feng-lin is a university administrator.
Translated by Edward Jones
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