…post war ones, anyway. Specifically, larger aircraft or helicopter-dropped ones.
(And add on a “could anyone please help me find…” to the beggining of that title.)
Anyway, I’ve done quite a bit of searching, and all I’ve managed to find is an utter dearth of information available online about said weapons, other than the fact that they exist.
Can anyone point out a book or a manual with information on the subject? Or should I just try my luck with Rosoboronexport?
I was actually just going to suggest Rosoberonexport’s lovely hardcover weapons catalogs. This tantalizing PDF shows the table of contents for a recent Naval Weapons edition**. Their ballistic missile hardware catalog is where I learned to read Cyrillic – the catalog is double-printed in English and Russian so just about any customer worldwide can read it.
Bring a ruler, a magnifying glass, and a naval hardware junkie who can tell you what all the bits are for, because while they do publish basic facts and figures like mass and size, they won’t tell you enough that you can outwit the system with your Los Angeles-class submarine. In the US, the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) handles that stuff, and because their reports are the products of intelligence work – which possibly reveals sources and methods – almost everything they publish is classified Secret or higher.
If you’re near DC, there may be a library that’s semi-public that would have this (expensive) volume on the shelves.
** - Holy crap, the PDF has links: Here is an ASW mine. You can click through the ToC to your heart’s content. Remember that ordering most of these things is considered “importing weapons systems” and may violate ITAR.
I thought that conventional depth charges were obsolete? I’ve read about nuclear depth bombs in the postwar era. Even during World War II, there were improved anti-submarine weapons like the hedgehog mortar, that fired a circular pattern of contact-fuzed mortar shells in front of the attacking ship.
Your not going to use a nuclear depth bomb if the enemy sub is being hunted in your territorial waters (like inside Chesapeake Bay).
The Hedgehog was OK. What was nice about it, was that your fired it ahead of your ship (WW2 destroyers could not track subs by sonar to the rear. Their own prop noises interfered), and they only explode if they actually connect with the subs hull. The destroyer can maintain sonar contact throughout this type of attack. Conventional depth bombs interfered with sonar, even if they missed. In the end, hedgehogs were folded into a whole weapons package tactical doctrine.
I think that what has made depth bombs less attractive are the self guided weapons; that is, weapons that detect the sub on their own and can change course to effect a hit.
Depth bombs have their plusses: cheap, easy to manufacture, and can stuff a crap ton on board your ship.
Yowza! I’ve been burrowing through the PDF links at Rosoberonexport, and I’ve found a small but respectable listing of depth bombs. Just what I needed.
Thanks Jurph!
Torpedos may not work as well in shallow water as one would wish, if you have read Red Storm rising, the battleaxe helicopter was called in to deliver an aerial depth charge.
Declan