The Hedgehog (also known as Anti-Submarine Projector ) is an advanced anti-submarine weapon used during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. The device, developed by the Royal Navy, fired up to 24 spigot mortars in front of the ship while attacking U Boats. It was deployed on convoy warship vessels such as destroyers and corvettes to add depth costs.
Because mortar projectiles use contact phuzes rather than time or barometric (depth) fuzes, detonation occurs directly against hard surfaces such as the submarine hull making it more deadly than the depth load, which depends on the damage caused by hydrostatic waves. Statistics show that during World War II of 5,174 attacks the depth of British charges there were 85.5 murders: a ratio of 60.5 to 1. For comparison, Hedgehog made 268 attacks for 47 murders: a ratio of 5.7 to 1.
Video Hedgehog (weapon)
Development
The "Hedgehog", so named because the empty line of the coil of the launcher resembles the hedgehog spines, was a substitute for the failed Fairlie Mortar that was piloted at HMSÃ, Whitehall in 1941. Despite failing, Fairlie was designed to fire depth charges in front of the ship when attacking the submarine. The principle of future trigger projectile is considered feasible. This secret research by the Directorate of Development of Miscellaneous Weapons (DMWD) leads to the development of Hedgehog.
The weapon was a "mortar spigot" or the release of a double tap, a kind of weapon developed between the wars by Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker, RA. Mortar taps are based on early infantry mortar trenches. The faucet design allows one tool to shoot warheads of varying sizes. The driving cost is part of the main weapon and works against the rod (tap set) in the baseplate mounted inside the tubular tail of the 'bomb'. This principle was first used on the Blacker Bombard 29 mm Mortar Spygot and then PIAT anti-tank weapon.
The adaptation of the bombard to naval use was made in partnership with MIR (c) under Major Millis Jefferis who had taken the Blacker design and brought it for use with the Army. The weapon fired a 24-bomb salvo in a bow, aiming to land in a circular or elliptical area about 100 feet (30 m) in diameter at a fixed point about 250 meters (230 m) right in front of the attacking ship. The installation was initially fixed but was later replaced by gyro-stabilized to allow rolling and throwing attacking vessels.
The system was developed to solve the problem of missing submarine targets of ASDIC ships that attack when the ship comes within the minimum reach of the sonar. Due to the speed of sound in the water, the time it takes to 'ping' echo to return to the attacking vessel from the target submarine becomes too short to allow the human operator to differentiate the echo that sounds from the initial sound issued. by sonar - the so-called "echo instantaneously", in which the sound output pulse and echo recombine. This "blind spot" allows submarines to make evasive maneuvers unnoticed when ships are out of reach for internal charge attacks. Therefore, the submarine is effectively invisible to the sonar because the ship comes in the minimum range of sonar. The solution is a weapon mounted in a foredeck that throws projectiles up and up carrying the ship's bow, landing in the water some distance ahead of the ship while the submarine is still out of the minimum reach of the sonar.
Maps Hedgehog (weapon)
History
The Hedgehog began operating in 1942. Carrying a torpex weighing 16 kg (35 pounds), each mortar has a diameter of 18 cm (7.1 inches) and weighs about 29.5 kg (65 pounds). The projectiles are tilted so that they will land in a circular shape with a diameter of 40 m (130 ft) about 180 m (590 ft) in front of the stationary vessel. The projectiles will then sink to about 7 m/s (23 ft/s). They will reach a submerged U-boat, for example at 200 feet (61 m) in less than 9 seconds. A sympathetic blast from a projectile near them that contacts hard surfaces is a possibility, but the number of explosions calculated is usually less than the number of projectiles being launched.
The prototype launcher was tested at HMSÃ, Westcott in 1941, but there was no submarine murder until November 1942, after being installed on a hundred ships. The initial success rate - about 5% - is only slightly better than depth cost. Swells and sprays often cover the launcher during heavy North Atlantic weather, and subsequent attempts to launch often reveal a series of firing problems that launch incomplete patterns. The disappointment of an unsuspecting, desperate crew who might assume a burst of inner charge has damaged their target or at least scared the enemy. The Royal Navy launched the Hedgehog very rarely in early 1943 that orders issued ordering ship captains equipped with Hedgehog to report why they did not use Hedgehog on underwater contact. The result is blamed on the crew's experience and low confidence in weapons. However, after an officer from the DMWD was sent to Londonderry Port, where a convoy crew was headquartered, with better training and ship talks about examples of successful Hedgehog attacks, the murder rate increased rapidly. At the end of the war, statistics show that on average, one out of every five attacks conducted by Hedgehog resulted in murder (compared to less than one in 80 with depth charges).
In response to this new lethal threat to his U-ships, Kriegsmarine carried its acoustic torpedo program in 1943, beginning with Falke. This new "float" torpedo can be used effectively without using a periscope, so submarines have a better chance of staying undetected and avoiding counterattacks.
At the Pacific Theater, USS England drowned six Japanese submarines in a matter of days with Hedgehog in May 1944.
In 1946, USS
Operational usage
The launcher has four "cradles", each with six launcher spigots. The shooting sequence wobbled so that all the bombs would land at about the same time. It has the added advantage of minimizing the pressure on mounting the weapon, so deck reinforcement is not necessary, and the weapon can be easily mounted to a convenient place on board. Reload takes about three minutes.
The Hedgehog has four major advantages over charge depth:
- The failed attack did not hide the submarine from the sonar.
- When the burst charge bursts, it takes 15 minutes before the disturbance can be stable enough that the sonar becomes effective. Many submarines have escaped during that time after the unsuccessful depth of load attacks. Since Hedgehog hedgehogs just explode during contact, submarine sonar tracking tends not to be disturbed by a failed hedgehog attack.
- Although knowledge of target depth is less important; less successful hedges against deep targets. Doctrines based on combat experience are not recommended for use on targets that are more than 400 feet (120 m).
- The distance weapon (such as depth charges) needs to be set to the correct depth of the target to be effective. The cost of contact-fuzzy does not have that limit, and the predicted explosion for a fuzzy-contact projectile to reach the target depth may indicate a "blow".
- The weapon does not give warning about the attack.
- Until deep sonar findings became available (first of which was the Royal Navy's "Q" attachment in 1943), there was a "dead time" during the last moments of attack when the assailant had no knowledge of what the target. The U-boat commander became proficient in the sharp change of direction and speed at this time, thus making the attack less accurate. Guns thrown forward like the Hedgehog do not give the necessary warning targets about when to dodge.
- A direct attack by one or two Hedgehog bombs is usually enough to drown the submarine.
- Many of the depth allegations required to inflict sufficient cumulative damage to submerge the submarine; even then, many U Boats survived hundreds of blasts for long hours - 678 depth charges were dropped against U-427 in April 1945. Depth of charge, usually exploded at a distance from the submarine, having bearing the water between them and the target that quickly removes the shock of the explosion. Hedgehog contact costs, on the other hand, have pads on the other hand, actually increase explosive surprises. However, barely with Hedgehog does not cause cumulative damage as depth charges do; nor does it have the same psychological effects as inner charge attacks.
Derivatives and successors
In late 1943, the Royal Navy introduced Squid. This is a three-tube mortar that launches depth charges. Originally it was used as a single weapon, but when this failed to succeed, it was upgraded to a "double squid" consisting of two launchers placed in parallel. In 1955 the system was upgraded to three Limbo tunings which launched a Minol 400 pound (180kg) payload.
The United States produced a version of a Hedgehog rocket called Mousetrap, then Weapon Alpha as a substitute for both. However, Hedgehog remained in service with the United States Navy into the Cold War until both the unsatisfactory Hedgehog and Weapon Alpha were replaced by ASROC.
Three "Hedgerow" flotillas from a special Landing Craft Assault boat carrying Hedgehog instead of troops used during the Normandy landings. The addition of extension fuse impact on the projectile's nose is activated to blow up the warhead above the ground. The bombs were used to clear the 100-yard highway through mines and barbed wire barriers on the beach.
The Australian Army adapted the Marine Hedgehog to a ground-based seven-header launcher that could be mounted behind Matilda's tanks.
From 1949, a copy of Hedgehog was produced in the Soviet Union as the MBU-200, developed in 1956 into the MBU-600 (also known as RBU-6000) with an increased range of 600 meters (2,000 feet).
Weapons from Hedgehog have been phased out from the Western navy that supports torpedoes. MBU-600 and its derivatives remain an important part of the Russian Navy (as well as Russia's allies, like India) anti-submarine weapons to this day.
Former operator
- Royal Navy
- United States Navy
- Royal Canadian Navy
- United States Navy
General characteristics
For a single bomb
- Caliber : 7 "(178 mm)
- Weight : 65 pounds (29 kg)
- Shell diameter Ã,: 7.2 in (183 mm)
- Shell Length : 3Ã, ft 10.5 inch (1,181 mm)
- Explosive expense : £ 30 (14 kg) TNT or £ 35 (16 kg) Torpex
- Reach : about 250 y (230 m)
- Immersed speed : 22 to 23.5 ft/d (6.7 to 7.2 m/sec)
- Fuze : Highly explosive, contact
- Activation order : Ripple paired, one every tenth of a second
- Reload time : ~ 3 minutes
Variants
- Mark 10: The elliptical pattern is about 140 x 120 ft (43 m² - 37 m) to a 200 m (180 m) range.
- Mark 11: circular pattern measuring 200 feet (61 m) in diameter to a range of about 188 yards (172 m).
- Mark 15: a pattern like for Mark 11 but mounted on an adapted platform of the Bofors 40-bit quadruple gun hammer. Mark 15 can be fired remotely from the ship's planning room.
Reference
External links
- Anti-Submarine Projectors Mks 10 & amp; 11 (Hedgehog)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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