MEDUSA Is U.S. Navy’s Secret Minelaying Submarine

The U.S. Navy wants offensive mine warfare capability, and it wants it fast. That’s the message from a new project called MEDUSA contained in the Navy’s latest budget release.

Mines have long been a powerful force in naval warfare; during World War II they sank more ships than aircraft or gunfire. In the modern era they are still effective, not just as weapons but for shaping an adversary’s actions. During the 1991 Gulf War, General Stanley McChrystal abandoned plans for a mass amphibious assault because the risk of sea mines was too great — even though allied minesweepers had been over the waters. (Two U.S. warships were damaged by mines during the conflict anyway).