"Sharon" wrote in message
senet.com...
snip
He worked on Minesweepers while in the Navy
(from my understanding they're wooden ships -- according to my mother they
were constructed that way, in case they received a blast -- the entire
ship
wouldn't be damaged). The Navy has a saying "Wooden Ships, Iron Men".
snip

** As I understand it...the minesweepers used wooden hulls to guard against
magnetic mines. We had quite a fleet of the old mine sweepers here in
Halifax in the '60s. ( Royal Canadian Navy)
4 or 5 years ago a new fleet of mine sweepers/costal patrol boats were built
but this time out of steel.

That old saying of wooden ships/iron men came from the days of sailing
ships.