Cable cutter?

moscowexile · 05-12-08, 03:40 AM

Here's a submarine thing I've always wondered about: When I was a kid over half a century ago, I saw a picture of a WWII sub and asked my dad what the sawtoothed contraption on its prow was for. He told me that it was for cutting cables on anti-submarine nets.

Was he correct, I wonder? And if the thing was intended to cut cables, how effective was it? I can hardly imagine it being of any use whatsoever in such a function.

Modern subs don't have them, nor do immediate post-WWII ones.

Were they only installed in the hopes that they would be able to cut through a steel cable? Were they only ornamentation furnished as a result of wishful thinking?

05-12-08, 03:40 AM	#1
moscowexile Navy Dude Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Moskau, Rußland. Posts: 174 Downloads: 206 Uploads: 0	Cable cutter? Here's a submarine thing I've always wondered about: When I was a kid over half a century ago, I saw a picture of a WWII sub and asked my dad what the sawtoothed contraption on its prow was for. He told me that it was for cutting cables on anti-submarine nets. Was he correct, I wonder? And if the thing was intended to cut cables, how effective was it? I can hardly imagine it being of any use whatsoever in such a function. Modern subs don't have them, nor do immediate post-WWII ones. Were they only installed in the hopes that they would be able to cut through a steel cable? Were they only ornamentation furnished as a result of wishful thinking? __________________ "Die Lust der Zerstörung ist gleichzeitig eine schaffende Lust." (The lust for destruction is at the same time a creative lust.- Mikhail Bukhanin.) Last edited by moscowexile; 05-12-08 at 11:31 PM.