The Super Weapon that Turned German U-Boats into Scrap

I can't wait till the movie comes out!

What's with the voice? Can't listen to this, my ears are crying

Why are whales killing humans ...

Just another killing device.

The German acoustic torpedo was NOT a response to Hedgehog. A U-boat still getting sonar pings would know that any attacker was still not in a position to drop depth charges, Hedgehog projectiles entered the water relatively quietly giving the quarry no warning. (Likewise the Allies Mk 24 ‘Fido’ homing torpedo, dropped only after a U-boat had submerged.) The German acoustic torpedo was intended to attack escort vessels rather than the merchantmen in conveys. Amusingly it had been anticipated by the Allies, who mistakenly decided that the FAT pattern-running torpedo was the acoustic torpedo. An effective decoy, FOXER, was swiftly deployed, two pieces of scrap iron on the end of a cable banging together, perhaps the cheapest counter-measure on record.
U-boats had mostly conducted attacks surfaced at night, which rendered sonar ineffective, until the widespread use of centimetric radar gave the advantage to the escorts. Submerging gave sonar a chance to track them. U-boats (VII/IX)were really submersible torpedo boats rather than true submarines, though it is fortunate that WW2 ended before the XXI/XXIII or the Walther peroxide boat became operational. It took nuclear power to produce genuine submarines.

Also very effective for littoral ASW. The Gulf of St Laurent for example was a very dicey region for ASW due to the variable salinity/water density making ASDIC tracking difficult. Hedgehogs' grandchild, the ASW morter directed by varialble depth sonar VDS, helped solve the problems.

Go England Go Navy!

Tin Cans are the real Navy. USS LAWRENCE DDG-4

Bloody bot voices....WHY !!

Doesnt it seem that exploding only on contact is too picky? I guess with such a small explosive, only close contact would do anything. Just seems like such a huge change from depth charges. Too bad it wasnt a proximity fuse design, perhaps using the subs distotion of magnetic field lines.

The faster transition between video chapters is appreciated.

I would suggest you slow your speaking pace a bit. You sound as you're always in a hurry

Wow!

As always, another exciting and informative video

The hedgehog was a great invention, but I wondered why they did not progress to making similar weapons for attacking enemy ships? A hedgehog missile fired from a ship could have deployed a number of bomblets in a spread of fire over such an enemy ship! Making numerous hits instead of just one, where at least some would hit the target!

Isn't it kind of funny that the most effective US anti-submarine ship used a weapon developed by the Royal Navy and was call USS England?

😅Remain and stay put in your cluelees brain

Most likely you live in a clueless state of mind

I really dislike your commentary. You try and make each line and phrase sooo dramatic, which it isn't. How about just reading the lines you have been reading from like a normal person. Otherwise, you're very annoying.....

You should do one about the "Bear Trap" a Canadian cold war invention for safety landing asw helicopters in any weather/sea state

German subs like Type VII, IX were sitting ducks when submerged… unless lucky to find a thermocline layer early enough. They really needed Type XXI will enough battery power and speed underwater to get away. Needed smart long range hi altitude aircraft to provide secure reconnaissance.

The REVENGE OF SPINY NORMAN!!!

1.18 - When you are talking about the British admiralty why show Usanians on the weapon.

It is believed that Winston Chuchill's daughter played a significant part in the Hedgehog story. She was accompanying him on a visit to an experimental weapons lab and it was running late. Eager to get to lunch, Churchill suggested that they should skip the next demonstration - which was Hedgehog. She suggested that he should at least look at it since the team had come such a long way. He agreed and there was the most enormous crash and at the far end of the test area was a series of deep holes forming the perfect outline of a U-Boat. The rest is history.

Great video. Thank you.

Sonic the Hedgehog -

Terrible choice of video material to back this segment . Much of it has nothing to do with the Hedgehog .

im confused, is a sub surrendering if they surface mid battle right by the two US ships? lol seems like unnecessary overkill to just unload on a sitting duck

Those poor fish………..just kidding!

Pretty good video, thanks for making this. I do have a suggestion though: I feel like the narration would feel smoother if you avoided reading the chapter titles. If you really want to, you should try also adding something like "chapter 1: xxxxx" at the start. I would chose the first option, but if you're really proud of your titles and you want to separate the chapters in your narration, the second option would let you do that without sounding like you pasted the wrong audio clip in the midst of a speech.

Very nice, thank you. They should make a movie about this.

What happened to the unexploded hedgehogs, are they laying on the bottom of the seas and still active or do they become redundant after a certain time.

Ohhh so this is where Sonic the hedgehog comes from lol. I always wondered what those weird bombs were in the game 😧

The hedgehog is a cute little thing with lots of character, they make great pets

My Dad was a Hedge Hog operator on the HMCS Stettler in the North Atlantic Theatre. He told me of one time he fired them off but one misfired and sat there. He contacted the bridge, they gave him the go ahead to try to fire it again, another misfire. They told him to try again and it misfired a 3rd time. They then told him to take it off the launcher and throw it overboard. He hated that as he wasn't sure if it armed itself. They have little propellers on the front and once turned a few times it armed so it was a little stressful when they misfired. Didn't happen often tho.

Aaa

Rear depth charges rolled off the stern, K-gun launched to the sides, hedgehog fwd firing, deadly combo pattern

You have read parts of the Wikipedia article about the Hgedgehog. You should quote it.

Amazing

It's pronounced "pi-yat", you fast-talking oaf.

I don't understand why there is no like button here... can someone tell me why the only option is thumbs down?

You literally replay the same 5 clips over and over for 10 straight minutes

My father served on the DE-36 and sunk the Japanese sub I-32

Same Williamson that the turn is named after?

The only complaint I have is how much footage was repeated throughout the ten minute runtime.

This thing terrifies me. Go up against it in iron wolf and you'll see why.
I single them out and hit it whit all 4 from tubes.

Can·t argue with those results .

So basically theres thousands of armed Undetinated explosives on the Atlantic ocean floor? Probably not the worst thing down there lmao

I like how they are launched.

HMCS Sackville