Hedgehog Mortars

[Andrakis]

Hey everyone - I stumbled across this on Wikipedia today. Has anyone ever thought to mod these onto some of the British ships? They seem pretty nasty!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_(weapon)

It may be that I've been fortunate enough not to run across one yet in SH as well...

[Fahnenbohn]

Originally Posted by Andrakis

Hey everyone - I stumbled across this on Wikipedia today. Has anyone ever thought to mod these onto some of the British ships? They seem pretty nasty!

Hello Andrakis. No problem, they are already moded in SH3. Try this mission : U-505. Good luck !

F.

[HW3]

I just got killed by them last night in a convoy attack September 1943, nasty weapon. All 4 escorts that attacked me had them.

[GoldenRivet]

Hedgehogs came with the stock release and in Fact were featured in one of the first game play teaser videos ever posted online.

Here the hedgehogs can be seen around half way into the video.



This is one of the first ever seen gameplay footage videos featured at E3 in 2004... Almost 12 years ago... Unbelievable it has been that long.

I remember when I got my first copy. Like it was yesterday

Edit: you'll have to note that hedgehogs came into use in 1942. In SH3 they will not be commonplace aboard many destroyers until late 42 early 43

[UKönig]

By 1944, it's rare to find an escort ship of any class that *doesn't* carry one..

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by UKönig

By 1944, it's rare to find an escort ship of any class that *doesn't* carry one..

What is this "1944" you speak of? Lol

[UKönig]

Well, just because you made it to 1944 doesn't guarantee you will make it to 1945... (some of them did, just (un)luck of the draw...)

[sublynx]

Once I was really close to making it into 1944...

[Andrakis]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

Hedgehogs came with the stock release and in Fact were featured in one of the first game play teaser videos ever posted online.

Here the hedgehogs can be seen around half way into the video.



This is one of the first ever seen gameplay footage videos featured at E3 in 2004... Almost 12 years ago... Unbelievable it has been that long.

I remember when I got my first copy. Like it was yesterday

Edit: you'll have to note that hedgehogs came into use in 1942. In SH3 they will not be commonplace aboard many destroyers until late 42 early 43

Wow that video is something else! You can see how even back in 2004, game developers dressed up their games better than the typical release quality. (I noticed it, in particular, with some of the explosion effects.)

[Jimbuna]

[GT182]

BIG Badda BOOM! LOL

[UKönig]

Probably my most feared anti-submarine weapon...

[Hambone307]

Almost lost my boat last night to one of those... January of '43 and I decided to patrol the Atlantic side of the Gibralter strait. Did my hydrophone check and found a convoy. Set up for my attack and found a large merchant, and a passenger cargo lightly escorted. Let loose my torps at long range and waited. Scored hits on both targets and heard the escort start searching with his ASDIC. Dodged him and thought I was in the clear when my hydrophone operator notified me of a warship to the south coming in fast. He got a fix on me and next thing I know I have flooding in multiple compartments and I'm dropping fast. Managed to limp back to port 10 hours later with multiple casualties... That hedgehog scares the crap out of me...

[K-61]

The Hedgehog was a nasty thing. The benefit of it was that as a forward launched weapon, the attacking escort could hold an ASDIC lock on the target for all, or most of the run in to attack. Because each round was a contact bomb, if it missed, there was no explosion. Depth charge explosions disrupted the water and made ASDIC useless for up to fifteen minutes after a depth charge attack. Sadly, this period of disruption is not modeled in the game. I've had as many as ten DC's dropped on me, and mere seconds later I am locked again in an ASDIC beam.

Another forward launched weapon was Squid. This was a forward thrown depth charge. Not as effective as Hedgehog, it was nonetheless more effective than conventional depth charges, which were more difficult to place in the water at just the right location.

Captain Walker knew of the limitations of ASDIC when used by only one attacking escort. This led him to develop the "creeping" attack, wherein one escort maintained ASDIC contact and directed one or more other vessels to run in on the target and told them when to drop charges.

In the early years of the war, there was a shortage of escort vessels for various reasons [fleet duty, invasion watch in 1940, too many convoys all needing escort] which meant the Royal Navy could not indulge itself with the idea of dedicated support groups. Once sufficient escort vessels were built [or finagled from the Americans] Captain Walker successfully lobbied for the idea of the Support Groups, which allowed for the efficiencies to be gained by keeping together the same groups of ships, whose captains and crews could train and operate together.

When enough ships were available, and also thanks to intelligence [Ultra, for example] and the efforts of Operational Research group, the Allies were able to assign their ASW assets more efficiently. This meant they could reduce the number of escorts for certain convoys and have a pool of professional sub hunters available "on call." These dedicated groups could take over the prosecution of a U-boat hunt from a convoy's escort group. It often took a long time to hunt and kill a U-boat. Most convoy escorts could not afford the time and so had to break off contacts and return to the convoy, in order not to leave a gap in the screen. Once the Support Groups were available, the time could be taken to hunt a boat to death. When it got to the point where U-boats were being destroyed faster than they could be produced and deployed, and merchant vessels could be produced and deployed [think Liberty Ships, etc.] faster than the Germans could sink them, it was only a matter of time until the Allies won the Battle of the Atlantic.

[Fahnenbohn]