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A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarines by detonating in the water near the target and subjecting it to a destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use high explosives with a fuze set to detonate the charge, typically at a
Obstacle clearing explosive charges. Barbed wire destruction rod grenade [8] Flamethrowers. P3 and P4 portable flamethrower; Schilt portable flamethrower; Mortars. Aasen 88.9mm M1915; Saint Étienne 58mm T No.1; Saint Étienne 58mm T No.2; Schneider 75mm M1915; Van Deuren 70mm M1915 [5] Projectile weapons. Sauterelle; Support guns. Puteaux 37mm ...
Perhaps the simplest of the anti-submarine weapons, the depth charge, is a large canister filled with explosives and set to explode at a predetermined depth. The concussive effects of the explosion could damage a submarine from a distance, though a depth charge explosion had to be very close to break the submarine's hull.
Until depth-finding sonar became available (the first was the Royal Navy's Q attachment in 1943), there was a "dead period" during the final moments before a depth-charge attack began when contact with the target would be lost. U-boat commanders became adept at sharp course changes and direction speed at these moments to break contact and escape.
Starting with WW1 vintage 300-pound (140 kg) depth charges, a 600-pound (270 kg) version was developed. Torpex explosive, which is a 50% more powerful explosive than TNT, was introduced in 1943. Y-guns and K-guns were used to throw depth charges to the side of the escort vessel, augmenting the charges rolled off the stern and letting the escort ...
This is a list of German weapons of World War I. Infantry weapons. Mauser Gewehr 98 and bayonet. Bayard M1908 (semi-automatic pistol) Beholla M1915 (semi-automatic ...
US Navy sailors attach Mk 47 aerial depth charges to the underside of a K-class blimp at NAS Weeksville, North Carolina in 1944. The K-ships were used for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) duties in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea. [3] All equipment was carried in a forty foot long control car.
The depth charges were also not as effective as one might think at sinking a submarine - only a very close detonation would sink a submarine, and the problems of scoring a direct hit meant that a submarine was more often damaged than destroyed by depth charges. After World War I depth charge throwers were developed, which could hurl depth ...