Naval mine ship, HMHS "Britannic", which was the sister ship of the RMS "Titanic." During World War II, the U-boat fleet, which dominated much of the battle of the Atlantic, was small at the beginning of the war and much of the early action by German forces involved mining convoy routes and ports around Britain. German submarines also operated in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Caribbean Sea, and along the U.S. coast. Initially, contact mines (requiring a ship to physically strike a mine to detonate it) were employed, usually tethered at the end of a cable just below the surface of the
Landing Ship, Tank (Hospital) aid ship" at the discretion of Vice Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, USN, Commander 7th Amphibious Force during 1943. was converted at Sydney in 1943 into a dedicated "first-aid ship", the only one of her kind used. "LST-464" carried no troops, or combat equipment and functioned as a casualty evacuation ship during invasion, a station hospital ship in port, and an ambulance ship to transfer patients to a base hospital. She was designated only by numbers "464" painted on her hull amidships. Her modified tank deck refitted and housed a complete and fixed hospital facility which extended into the ship through