Depth charge
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.Depth charges can be dropped by ships (typically fast, agile surface combatants such as destroyers or frigates), patrol aircraft and helicopters.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.At Admiral John Jellicoe's request, the standard Mark II mine was fitted with a hydrostatic pistol (developed in 1914 by Thomas Firth and Sons of Sheffield) preset for 45 ft (14 m) firing, to be launched from a stern platform.[3] Because production could not keep up with demand,[4] anti-submarine vessels initially carried only two depth charges, to be released from a chute at the stern of the ship.[4] The weight of charges and racks caused ship instability unless heavy guns and torpedo tubes were removed to compensate.Having received them, Commander Fullinwider of the U.S. Bureau of Naval Ordnance and U.S. Navy engineer Minkler made some modifications and then patented it in the U.S.[6] It has been argued that this was done to avoid paying the original inventor.[9] Cast iron weights of 150 lb (68 kg) were attached to the Mark VII at the end of 1940 to increase sinking velocity to 16.8 ft/s (5.1 m/s).[9] The British Mark X depth charge weighed 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) and was launched from the 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes of older destroyers to achieve a sinking velocity of 21 ft/s (6.4 m/s).Improved racks, which could hold several depth charges and release them remotely with a trigger, were developed towards the end of the First World War.Some Royal Navy trawlers used for anti-submarine work during 1917 and 1918 had a thrower on the forecastle for a single depth charge, but there do not seem to be any records of it being used in action.[13] Projectors called "Y-guns" (in reference to their basic shape), developed by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Ordnance from the Thornycroft thrower,[13] became available in 1918.The K-guns fired one depth charge at a time and could be mounted on the periphery of a ship's deck, thus freeing valuable centerline space.Experiencing the same problems as the RAF with ineffective anti-submarine bombs, Captain Birger Ek of Finnish Air Force squadron LeLv 6 contacted a navy friend to use Finnish Navy depth charges from aircraft, which led to his unit's Tupolev SB bombers being modified in early 1942 to carry depth charges.In the Pacific Theater during World War II, Japanese depth charge attacks were initially unsuccessful because they were unaware that the latest United States Navy submarines could dive so deep.The congressman, who had just returned from the Pacific theater where he had received confidential intelligence and operational briefings from the US Navy, revealed at a press conference that there were deficiencies in Japanese depth-charge tactics.The Hedgehog was contact fuzed, while the Squid fired a pattern of three large, 440 lb (200 kg) depth charges with clockwork detonators.Later developments included the Mark 24 "Fido" acoustic homing torpedo (and later such weapons), and the SUBROC, which was armed with a nuclear depth charge.As of 2018[update], the Royal Navy retains a depth charge labelled as Mk11 Mod 3, which can be deployed from its AgustaWestland Wildcat and Merlin HM.2 helicopters.
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