Anti-submarine warfare weapon

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The “subroc.”

I guess the question is “Is this a real weapon, or just a literary invention?”

Basically, it sounds sorta like a cruise missile:

An attack sub fires it, and it starts rising, and eventually takes flight.

Then, at a certain point, it starts descending back into the water, where it would “lock on” and hunt down the opposing sub.

I haven’t been able to find a lot of info on it, and I was just wondering if that is a true weapon.

BTW, the book was “The Phoenix Odyssey” by Richard Hendrick.

2

ASROC Navy antisub missile, fired by SUBs and Destroyers. It reenters the water and then becomes a torpedo/missile again.

Its a cruise missile fitted with a torp.

3

I used to have a set of model rockets (plastic, displayed on a base) when I was a kid. I remember there as a SUBROC (as well as an ASROC) in it.

Here’s what I found at http://www.shima.demon.co.uk/modnuke.htm

4

oh yeah and its real :slight_smile: very real.

5

UUM-44 SUBROC

And some other sites that mention SUBROCs:
http://sun00781.dn.net/man/dod-101/sys/missile/
http://www.amintel.com/Weapons/Ships/sturgeon.htm
http://www.subnet.com/FLEET/ssn594.htm
http://www.quiknet.com/~jeruff/specs.html

6

JOHNNY!!! I had those same Submarine models.

Made by DML with a little dragon on the emblem??

Damn I had every one they ever made.

7

Following Beatle’s link, I read the following:
“Finally finding its target, a 39-inch long Mark 55 thermonuclear warhead, weighing approximately 460 pounds, was then detonated. A direct hit is not necessary.”

LOVE that last sentence …

“Now you pissed me off. You and I? We’re NEVER gonna be friends.”

8

Just another one of my favorite toys…

Heh-heh-heh.

Too bad it’s no longer in our inventory. The ASROC/SUBROC could also be fitted with a conventional warhead and made an excellent “stand off” weapon.

Just being able to employ the ASROC/SUBROC gave “bad guy” skippers a really good reason to keep their distance.

“Though I hate 'em, I’ll defend to my death your right to use smilies.”
Forward deployed until 18AUG00

9

I used to work on service and repairing submarine detection systems.
Not exactly your topic. They weren’t weapons.
Both were airborn.
Old technology but I’ve heard of the same principal in use today.

One was Anomally detection-magnetic field detection.The other “listened” for the noise subs produced.
Neither would probably work today because of the advanced technology in mfg subs.
The Anomally detection would work in earthquake detection and measurement.

10

[old salt]When I was sailin’ the seven seas twenny year ago, on a dee-stroyah we called the Crap-and-Turd*, we shot off one a’ them ASROCs. I’s down in Main Cunt-roll* at the time, watchin’ the electrical board. (We’s near Hawayah* at the time.) Lord a’ Mighty, that thing made a noise! BUH-WOOOOOOOOSH!!! Wish I could’a seen it go…[/old salt]

  • Main Cunt-roll = Main Control, also known as Engine room #1

*Hawayah = Hawaii. One of the islands is uninhabited by humans and is used mostly as target practice by the Navy.

*Crap-and-Turd = Carpenter DD-825. Built in 1945. Modified during Vietnam with an ASROC launcher. This was made possible by cutting the hull in half from top to bottom and installing a 45-foot extension. the steel superstructure was replaced with one of aluminum so the ship would be less top-heavy. Last I heard of the Crap, we sold it to Turkey. (What were we trying to do, make sure Turkey LOST their next naval conflict?)

When all else fails, ask Cecil.