Essex wrote:
How much does the paravane weigh?
Remember that the paravane itself is merely a large, winged, weight that pulls a cable away from the hull using the ship's bow energy wave to swing the cable clear of the ship. It is the
cable that clears mines, not the paravane. Several hundred feet of cable is very heavy therefore the paravane must be heavy enough to act on the cable. Also, the paravane has to remain submerged in order for it to "swim" properly.
There are a few paravanes at the USS North Carolina Museum, two on deck and one off ship. I remember trying to lift the one off ship. It was merely resting on a cradle under its own weight. I am certain it would take several men to move one even with the aid of mechanical help.
I can't tell you exactly how heavy one is. The best answer I can give you is that a paravane is heavy enough to require an overhead steel track to safely move it around a carrier's forecastle.
Essex wrote:
how can the paravane be moved along this track?
There is a steel harness welded to the body with attachment rings. I am certain these rings were used to attach tackle to the paravane for lifting and towing purposes.
There are similar tracks in the hangar deck on the overhead and below decks near the machinery shops and magazines, at least on the modernized
Yorktown as she now appears on Charleston, used to lift heavy equipment, bombs, torpedoes, aircraft engines, etc. They are basically large, steel I-beams. On these tracks is a dolly with four steel wheels that run along the I-beam fillet. IIRC, the dolly had one or two lifting points to attach tackle.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that men lost fingers moving that dolly along a track on a ship that pitched and rolled.