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Anti-submarine warfare
Did the Luftwaffe ever deploy a specialised anti-submarine bomb? (Everything I've read recently about anti-sub patrolling and convoy escort in the Mediterranean seems to suggest they just relied on the standard SC 50 and SC 250).
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Re: Anti-submarine warfare
Just checked this old but very comprehensive study that identifies all Luftwaffe special purpose ordnance and no anti-submarine bomb found:
LUSAR, Rudolf. German Secret Weapons of the Second World War. New York: Philosophical Library, 1959. L. |
Re: Anti-submarine warfare
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i actually saw that book when I was a kid and my uncle borrowed it from the Library but the only things I remember are the "wind cannon" and the rifle that shot round corners! |
Re: Anti-submarine warfare
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RN submarines in the Mediterranean were regularly attacking escorted merchant ships by day and night. The Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica diverted a lot of aircraft to convoy protection. |
Re: Anti-submarine warfare
Nick -
TOCH cut me off just as I was completing a long post on this and I couldn't recover it. It covered the wartime development by the Germans of a special underwater acoustic/sonic detonator and Hexogen and Trimethylenetrinitramine high compression/blast effect explosives for use in bombs, torpedoes, aerial torpedoes and sea mines. Although not mentioned directly, that sounds like crushing submarine hulls to me. See Lusar, op cit, pp.229-34. L. |
Re: Anti-submarine warfare
Reviving an old thread, they did have Flieger [or Flugzeug?) Wasser Bomben in various calibres:
Fl.W.B. 150 570 mm long x 450 mm diameter, 150 kg overall/c. 60 kg explosive charge Fl.W.B. 190 570 x 450 mm, 190 kg overall (as above but with c. 125 kg charge) Fl.W.B. 190 m.S. 730 x 450 mm with extension »Schale« (shell or cup?) "due to the dropping equipment", 195 kg overall. Guidelines for their use had apparently been issued in a document of November 1941. Source: Bundesarchiv RL 7-2/149 |
Re: Anti-submarine warfare
Hope this helps.
http://michaelhiske.de/Allierte/USA/...er06_02_01.htm http://michaelhiske.de/Allierte/USA/...er06_02_02.htm http://michaelhiske.de/Allierte/USA/...er06_02_03.htm http://michaelhiske.de/Allierte/USA/...er06_02_04.htm http://michaelhiske.de/Allierte/USA/...er06_02_05.htm http://michaelhiske.de/Allierte/USA/...er06_02_06.htm |
Re: Anti-submarine warfare
Hello Nick,
Gen.d.Lw b. Ob.d.M O.Qu (KTB available online) has plenty of references to these bombs. For example RM6/197 s.24 (0028.jpg) 10:00 about BV138 mit Abwurfanlage fuer LWB. Best regards, Andrey |
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Re: Anti-submarine warfare
Nick,
Word usage in documents can be tricky. What I call a bomb is called a mine. The first link shows a "mine" with an explosive charge that could take out a submarine. It was designed to reach a certain depth in 90 seconds, and explode. This makes it distinct from air-dropped mines that are designed to sit for long periods. |
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