Fourth. The effective use of depth charges required the combined resources and skills of many individuals during an attack. Depth charges were first developed by the British Royal Navy in 1916. were was winding down with the Squid advanced depth charge thrower.Part of the impetus for developing Hedgehog was A depth charge fitted with a nuclear warhead is also known as a "nuclear depth bomb".These were designed to be dropped from a patrol plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a surface ship, or another submarine, located a safe distance away. [2] It was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers and corvettes to supplement the depth charges. The first Hedgehog kill in the Pacific was The device, which was developed by the Royal Navy, fired up to 24 spigot mortars ahead of a ship when attacking a U-boat.The Australian Army adapted the marine Hedgehog into a land-based seven-shot launcher that could be mounted on the back of Matilda tanks.It projected multiple small anti-submarine bombs simultaneously, 10 from each side of the ship's forecastle, each containing 20 pounds of explosive, but "Hedgehog" projecting 24 small bombs from a single platform eventually became the predominant British weapon in the war.In response to this new deadly threat to its U-boats, the Kriegsmarine brought forward its programme of acoustic torpedoes in 1943, beginning with the Falke.This principle was first used on the Blacker Bombard 29 mm Spigot Mortar and the later PIAT anti-tank weapon.Department of Miscellaneous Weapons DevelopmentIt was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers and corvettes to supplement the depth charges.It is similar in principle to the Royal Navy Hedgehog system used during the Second World War.The Hedgehog (also known as an Anti-Submarine Projector) was a forward-throwing anti-submarine weapon that was used primarily during the Second World War.In late 1943 the Royal Navy introduced Squid.The troop well was filled by a Hedgehog spigot mortar weapon.It was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers and corvettes to supplement the depth charges. of relatively small explosive charge of the projectiles, a hit was MBU-600 and its derivatives remain an important part of the Russian Navy's (as well as Russia's allies, such as India) anti-submarine arsenal to this day.From 1949, a copy of Hedgehog was produced in theThe Australian Army adapted the marine Hedgehog into a land-based seven-shot launcher that could be mounted on the back ofThe United States produced a rocket version of Hedgehog calledThe adaptation of the bombard for naval use was made in partnership with The firing sequence was staggered so all the bombs would land at about the same time. reloads: While destroyers typically carried a large number of Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_(weapon)?oldid=4524060British Commonwealth Naval weapons of theLive and practice projectiles - note the protective fuze caps (22) shown removed in the picture at the top of pageWorld War II naval weapons of the United KingdomArticles incorporating text from WikipediaFrom 1949, a copy of Hedgehog was produced in the USSR as MBU-200, developed in 1956 into MBU-600 with increased range of 600 meters.The Hedgehog had four key advantages over the depth charge:The Hedgehog became much more successful than depth-charge attacks (the best kill rate was about 25% of attacks whereas depth charges never achieved more than 7%).
Its development was begun in 1941 as a replacement for Hedgehog, a British-made projector, which was the first ahead-throwing ASW weapon.It replaced the Hedgehog system, and was in turn replaced by the Limbo system.This situation was remedied by using several ships cooperating and by the adoption of "ahead-throwing weapons", such as Hedgehogs and later Squids, which projected warheads at a target ahead of the attacker and thus still in ASDIC contact.The weapon was a multiple 'spigot mortar' or spigot discharger, a type of weapon developed between the wars by Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker, RA.They were fitted with new light anti-aircraft guns, radar, and forward-launched ASW weapons, in addition to their existing dual-purpose guns, depth charges, and torpedoes.These mortars, the first being Hedgehog, fired a pattern of small depth charges.The device, which was developed by the Royal Navy, fired up to 24 spigot mortars ahead of a ship when attacking a U-boat.Advances in convoy tactics, high-frequency direction finding (referred to as "Huff-Duff"), radar, active sonar (called ASDIC in Britain), depth charges, ASW spigot mortars (also known as "hedgehog"), the intermittent cracking of the German Naval Enigma code, the introduction of the Leigh light, the range of escort aircraft (especially with the use of escort carriers), the use of mystery ships, and the full entry of the U.S. into the war with its enormous shipbuilding capacity, all turned the tide against the U-boats.In 1955 this system was upgraded to the three-barreled Limbo that launched 400 lb Minol charges.As the mortar projectiles employed contact fuzes rather than time or barometric (depth) fuzes, detonation occurred directly against a hard surface such as the hull of a submarine making it more deadly than depth charges, which relied on damage caused by hydrostatic shockwaves.In 1942 the forward-throwing "hedgehog" mortar, which fired a spread salvo of bombs with contact fuzes at a "stand-off" distance while still in sonar contact, was introduced and proved to be effective.The adaptation of the bombard for naval use was made in partnership with MIR(c) under Major Millis Jefferis who had taken Blacker's design and brought it into use with the Army.Gradually, improving Allied technologies such as the Leigh light, hedgehog, squid, and homing torpedoes proved victorious over the German submarines.Its most successful and important developments included the Hedgehog anti-submarine weapon and Squid anti-submarine mortar, as well as the Holman Projector, the development of an Army anti-aircraft rocket battery designed to be mountable on naval vessels, and the system of degaussing used to protect ships against magnetic mines, and above all an instrumental role in developing parts of the Mulberry harbour used in the D-Day landings.Lieutenant-Colonel Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker OBE (1 October 1887 – 19 April 1964) was a British Army officer and inventor of weapons; he invented the Blacker Bombard, from which was developed the Hedgehog anti-submarine spigot-mortar - and laid the basis of the PIAT anti tank weapon.The weapon was a multiple 'spigot mortar' or spigot discharger, a type of weapon developed between the wars by Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker, RA.