Volume Nine - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - The White Funnel Fleet during Wartime . . .

'It was one thing to make the ships immune to the magnetic mine, but quite another to sweep it up or explode it harmlessly on the seabed. Eventually a method was devised whereby minesweepers towed two electric cables on the surface, one of 75 yards, the other 175 yards, and passed an electrical current down them which produces a magnetic field of sufficient strength to explode the mines. With the minesweepers working in pairs a wide area could be swept quickly and efficiently.'

The 'Glen Usk', 'Brighton Belle' and three other ships of the Campbell's fleet were assigned to the command at North Shields on the Tyne to form part of the 8th Minesweeping Flotilla.

'Aboard H.M.S. 'Glen Gower', bringing in sweeps in a North Sea gale. H.M.S. 'Glen Usk' can be seen in the distance.' [313] [315]

'H.M.S. Brighton Belle' was lost in May 1940 off Ramsgate. The following month at Dunkirk, the 'Glen Avon' was credited with the removal of 888 troops, the 'Glen Gower' with 1,250 and the 'Snaefell' (formerly the ''Waverley') saved 981 souls. Seven out of the ten Campbell's steamers were involved in the evacuation.