GWX Gold -hedgehogs??

[She-Wolf]

have just started SH3 again after a longbreak (all Facebook Subsims fault), and am delighted to be back - but am puzzled. My aim in the game is to bait the destroyers rather than destroy tonnage - that cat and mouse thing, so as soon as hostilites commence and I have completed my patrol, I head for any area where there might be enemy ships patrolling, and sure enough, on my way to sniff out a small harbour I am picked up by a lone destroyer and the game begins. Thing is, he wasn't only dropping depth charges off the back as I recall was the usual pattern in SH3, but arcing them out from the sides as well - is this the renowned hedgehog, and if so, am I mistaken to think they were not introduced until later in the war??

I got away BTW

[Captain Nemo]

The hedgehog was fired from the bow of a destroyer. It was effectively a forward firing mortar and allowed the destroyer to maintain ASDIC contact with the U-boat when firing the weapon thus making it more accurate than the depth charge. I believe it was introduced around 1942/43. So what you are seeing is not the hedgehog.

Nemo

[She-Wolf]

thank you Cap'n

[GoldenRivet]

She-Wolf, What you are seeing is called a "K-Gun Depth Charge projector". A small tube containing an explosive charge would blast depth charges over the port and startboard sides of the destroyer while they would also be rolled off the stern the old fashioned way. this gave the destroyer a more effective pattern of depth charges with which to attack the submarine.



as Captain Nemo has already pointed out, the K-Gun launcher differes from the hedge hog. not only in accuracy and deployment but in size and lethality. The Hedgehog fired a smaller projector packed with less explosive power, however the destroyer made constant ASDIC contact with the sub in the use of the hedgehog. The hedgehog would be fired straight ahead over the bow of the destroyer and was an impact weapon. Meaning that while depth charges would explode on a pre-set depth setting... the hedgehog would explode when it contacted an object (the u-boat)

[She-Wolf]

very helpful GR ( and hello again ) - asked Himself downstairs as well, and he said something about a Y-gun - and said much the same as you ( but without the excellent pictures). He said couldn't tell me much more else he'd have to shoot me!

[Sailor Steve]

Looks like it's all covered, but just an extra note: The 'Y' gun looks like a double-barreled 'K' gun, in the shape of a...hold on, you'll never guess...a 'Y'! It was mounted amidships and could fire a charge to both sides at the same time.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by She-Wolf

very helpful GR ( and hello again ) - asked Himself downstairs as well, and he said something about a Y-gun - and said much the same as you ( but without the excellent pictures). He said couldn't tell me much more else he'd have to shoot me!

The 'Y-gun' was an older weapon, going back to ~1918. The 'K-gun' was a more modern weapon. Both did an adequate job of hurling depth charges to obtain a wider/larger pattern, but the Y-gun lost favor after the K-gun came along, for these reasons:

1. The Y-gun always fired two depth charges, so if a contact was known to be on one side, one DC was wasted.

2. The Y-gun had to be mounted on the center line of the deck, whereas the K-guns were mounted at the edge. This meant the Y-guns gobbled up a lot of deck space, in a way the K-guns did not.

navweapons.com has a couple pictures and some info on this page, about half way down.