The period's characteristic contact mine descended with an anchor weight and then rose on its mooring cable to a set depth. Dedicated tubes passed through the outer casing so crews could release these bulky assemblies vertically, often two mines from each tube. Later torpedo-tube mines changed the design tradeoff, but they were not yet the normal solution discussed here. The explanation makes the Wilk class's forty-mine capacity a substantial structural feature rather than a minor ammunition choice.
Notable Point · 1:08:41-1:12:31
Why interwar submarine mines required dedicated vertical tubes
Interwar moored mines needed dedicated drop tubes, explaining why mine warfare could not simply be added to every torpedo-only submarine.