11 Aug 2010

Lyttelton minefields

From Afternoons, 2:20 pm on 11 August 2010

In June 1941, a German minelayer slipped into Lyttelton Harbour on Banks Peninsula and laid 10 mines. No mines exploded, no ships were sunk and over the years the mines may have slipped deeper and deeper into the seabed. Now the New Zealand Navy is trying to find the old mines so port authorities can dredge a deeper channel. So far, the search has failed to locate the mines.