Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Successful anti-submarine warfare depends on a mix of sensor and weapon technology, training, and experience. Sophisticated sonar equipment for first detecting, then classifying, locating, and tracking the target submarine is a key element of ASW. To destroy submarines, both torpedoes and naval mines are used, launched from air, surface, and underwater platforms. ASW also involves protecting friendly ships. The first attacks on a ship by an underwater vehicle are generally believed to have been during the American Revolutionary War, using what would now be called a naval mine but what then was called a torpedo, though various attempts to build submarines had been made before this. The first self-propelled torpedo was invented in 1863 and launched from surface craft. The first submarine with a torpedo was Nordenfelt I built in 1884–1885, though it had been proposed earlier. By the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War all the large navies except the German had acquired submarines. Nevertheless, in 1904 all still defined the submarine as an experimental vessel and did not put it into operational use. There were no means to detect submerged U-boats, and attacks on them were limited at first to efforts to damage their periscopes with hammers. The Royal Navy torpedo establishment, HMS Vernon, studied explosive grapnel sweeps; these sank four or five U-boats in the First World War. A similar approach featured a string of 70 lb (32 kg) charges on a floating cable, fired electrically; an unimpressed Baron Mountevans considered any U-boat sunk by it deserved to be. Also tried were dropping 18.5 lb (8.4 kg) hand-thrown guncotton bombs. The Lance Bomb was developed, also; this featured a 35–40 lb (16–18 kg) cone-shaped steel drum on a 5 ft (1.5 m) shaft, intended to be thrown at a submarine. Firing Lyddite shells, or using trench mortars, was tried. Use of nets to ensnare U-boats was also examined, as was a destroyer, HMS Starfish, fitted with a spar torpedo. To attack at set depths, aircraft bombs were attached to lanyards which would trigger their charges; a similar idea was a 16 lb (7.3 kg) guncotton charge in a lanyarded can; two of these lashed together became known as the Depth Charge Type A. Problems with the lanyards tangling and failing to function led to the development of a chemical pellet trigger as the Type B. These were effective at a distance of around 20 ft (6.1 m). The best concept arose in a 1913 RN Torpedo School report, describing a device intended for countermining, a 'dropping mine'. At Admiral John Jellicoe's request, the standard Mark II mine was fitted with a hydrostatic pistol (developed in 1914 by Thomas Firth & Sons of Sheffield) preset for 45 ft (14 m) firing, to be launched from a stern platform. Weighing 1,150 lb (520 kg), and effective at 100 ft (30 m), the 'cruiser mine' was also a potential hazard to the dropping ship. During the First World War, submarines were a major threat. They operated in the Baltic, North Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean as well as the North Atlantic. Previously they had been limited to relatively calm and protected waters. The vessels used to combat them were a range of small, fast surface ships using guns and good luck. They mainly relied on the fact a submarine of the day was often on the surface for a range of reasons, such as charging batteries or crossing long distances. The first approach to protect warships was chainlink nets strung from the sides of battleships, as defense against torpedoes. Nets were also deployed across the mouth of a harbour or naval base to stop submarines entering or to stop torpedoes of the Whitehead type fired against ships. British warships were fitted with a ram with which to sink submarines, and U-15 was thus sunk in August 1914. RN in June 1915 began operational trials of the Type D depth charge, with a 300 lb (140 kg) charge of TNT (amatol, as TNT supplies became critical) and a hydrostatic pistol, firing at either 40 or 80 ft (12 or 24 m), and believed to be effective at a distance of 140 ft (43 m); the Type D*, with a 120 lb (54 kg) charge, was offered for smaller ships.