Do not send a person toward an explosive device if a machine can inspect the area first.
Unmanned surface vessels can move through hazardous waters without placing a crew directly over a suspected minefield. Underwater vehicles can carry sonar systems closer to the seabed and provide detailed imagery of objects that might otherwise be difficult to classify.
This approach is part of a broader transformation in naval mine warfare.
For decades, mine countermeasures depended heavily on specialized ships, minehunting vessels and divers. Modern systems increasingly allow navies to distribute those tasks among networks of sensors, autonomous vessels and remotely operated systems.
The objective is not necessarily to eliminate humans from the mission.
It is to move humans farther away from the explosion.
But that only works up to a point.
Sonar can detect an object. Artificial intelligence or trained operators can help classify it. An underwater vehicle can investigate it.
Eventually, however, someone may still need to determine whether the object is actually a mine and how it should be destroyed.
That is where the diver returns.
The Most Dangerous Moment Comes at the End
Finding a mine may be difficult.
Approaching one can be terrifying.
A diver operating in a minefield cannot simply swim toward an object and assume that nothing will happen. The explosive may have been designed to respond to a vessel's magnetic signature, sound or pressure. The diver must therefore understand both the mine and the surrounding environment.
The water itself introduces additional hazards.
Visibility can be poor. Sediment can obscure the seabed. Currents can move equipment or affect a diver's position. A tether or piece of equipment can become entangled. Communication can be difficult.
And unlike a bomb-disposal technician working on land, a diver cannot simply step away.
The sea is all around him.
Hamblet's description of the process highlights the fundamental paradox of modern mine warfare: the military can use increasingly sophisticated machines to find the threat, but the last stage can still require a human being to enter the danger zone.
That makes mine clearance one of the rare military missions in which technological progress has not eliminated the oldest element of combat: physical courage at extremely close range.
Why Work at Night?
The reported decision to conduct much of the mission under cover of darkness had obvious advantages.
Night operations can make small boats and divers harder to observe. In a contested maritime environment, reducing the visual and electronic signature of the operation can help protect the personnel involved.
But darkness also makes the job harder.
For a diver, natural light is already limited beneath the surface. Working at night adds another layer of complexity. Surface crews have less visibility, navigation becomes more difficult and recovery operations can become more complicated.
The decision therefore reflects the unusual balance of risks surrounding the mission.
The U.S. forces were not conducting mine clearance in a peaceful harbor.
They were operating in the middle of a geopolitical confrontation involving Iran, the United States and other regional actors.
The mines were only one part of the threat environment.
There were also missiles, drones, patrol boats and the possibility that military tensions could escalate again.
In such circumstances, a large conventional mine-clearing operation might provide a much larger and more visible target.
A small force using unmanned systems can be harder to detect and potentially easier to reposition.
The Strange Absence of Conventional Minesweepers
One of the more unusual aspects of the operation was the reported reliance on small teams and unmanned systems rather than a large concentration of conventional mine-countermeasure ships.
That approach may have reflected operational realities.
The U.S. Navy has specialized mine-countermeasure assets, but they are not infinitely available, and mine warfare platforms can be deployed around the world.
The Financial Times reported that several U.S. mine-countermeasure ships normally associated with Gulf operations were elsewhere, leaving smaller units, divers and unmanned systems to perform much of the work in Hormuz.
This is significant because it demonstrates an emerging concept in naval warfare: mine clearance does not necessarily require a massive fleet if technology can push reconnaissance and detection forward.
Instead, a relatively small team can operate as the human component of a much larger robotic system.
The machines search.
The sensors classify.
The humans decide.