Depth charge

Anti-submarine weapon / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use high explosive charges and a fuze set to detonate the charge, typically at a specific depth. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, and helicopters.

Depth_charge_bd.jpg
US World War II Mark IX depth charge. Streamlined and equipped with fins to impart rotation, allowing it to fall in a straight trajectory with less chance of drifting off target. This depth charge contained 200 lb (91 kg) of Torpex.

Depth charges were developed during World War I, and were one of the first viable methods of attacking a submarine underwater. They were widely used in World War I and World War II, and remained part of the anti-submarine arsenals of many navies during the Cold War, during which they were supplemented, and later largely replaced, by anti-submarine homing torpedoes.

Mk-101_Lulu_NDB.jpg
The Mk 101 Lulu was a US nuclear depth bomb operational from 1958-1972

A depth charge fitted with a nuclear warhead is also known as a "nuclear depth bomb". These were designed to be dropped from a patrol plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a surface ship, or another submarine, located a safe distance away. By the late 1990s all nuclear anti-submarine weapons had been withdrawn from service by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. They have been replaced by conventional weapons whose accuracy and range had improved greatly as ASW technology improved.