Quote:
Originally Posted by Fidd
it may well be, that's why I used the word "estimate".  I was working from the premise that replacement hedge-hog charges would not be laying around the deck before firing, ready to reload, but would need to be brought up from the magazine. I'd have expected this resupply to occur until they were told to stop, so its the first reload that would be most time-consuming. If you had the new rounds ready and by the weapon, then 3 minutes makes sense. But if not, then 10-20 minutes is probably a better estimate, dropping back towards the 3 minute mark as time goes on. On the other hand, DC's were (erroneously) believed at the time to be far more effective than hedge-hog and as the same people who were resupplying HH's were also bringing up the DC's, it's entirely possible the HH was only used once whilst in asdic contact, with the reload occurring once contact was lost.
I'm simply asking of anyone knows, or can provide evidence for, the reload rates, the rest of it is surmise. |
There was a magazine for additional shells but most were held in "ready to use" ammunition lockers next to the weapons they were intended for. The deck gun had racks that held shells all around it, each 20mm had their own lockers right next to the spotlights behind them. Hedgehog had a big ole locker right behind the blast shield of the main gun. So each weapon was always in the ready to be used and reloaded because in war, seconds, not minutes, count.