Anti-submarine warfare

[Nick Beale]

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).

[Larry deZeng]

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.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

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.

Thanks for that, Larry.

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!

[Nick Beale]

Different warfare, different bombs.
And British bombs were not any better, mostly same Sprengstoff: Amatol.

In attacking a submarine, which you are unlikely to hit directly, a thin-cased bomb designed to create maximum blast/overpressure (shrapnel is of less value underwater) and with a hydrostatic fuse is likely to be more effective than a regular bomb.

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.

[Larry deZeng]

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.

[Nick Beale]

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

[edwest2]

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

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

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

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by edwest2

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

An interesting resource and new to me but all about mines rather than depth charges by the look of it.

[edwest2]

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.