A controlled mine was a circuit fired weapon used in coastal defenses with ancestry going back to 1805 when Robert Fulton termed his underwater explosive device a torpedo:
Robert Fulton invented the word torpedo to describe his underwater explosive device and successfully destroyed a ship in 1805. In the 1840s Samuel Colt began experimenting with underwater mines fired by electric current and in 1842, he blew up an old schooner in the Potomac River from a shore station five miles away.
A controlled mine (at left), with the distribution box that connected it and the other mines in its group to the mine casemate on shore.
Submarine mines in United States harbor defense
The modern era of defending American harbors with controlled mines or submarine mines began in the post-Civil War period, and was a major part of US harbor defenses from circa 1900 to 1947.
A controlled mine (at left), with the distribution box that connected it and the other mines in its group to the mine casemate on shore.
This WW2-era mine, with its anchor, is on display at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor.
The mine casemate at Fort Strong, Long Island, Boston Harbor, once the control point for mines in the southern channels to the harbor.
A mine casemate had a control panel like this for each 19-mine group under its command. The controls were used to test and to fire the mines.
