Aye, I think people are still imagining sea mines as the old big-ball-with-spikes-anchored-by-a-chain, and haven’t ever looked at how sophisticated minesweeper ships are. Modern mines can determine target ships by electromagnetic profiles, and minesweepers are able to alter their own signature in some pretty wild ways to slip by or get around the mines.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t spiky balls out there in the water, but that’s not the only tool in the kit.