Hedgehog (weapon)

Hedgehog (weapon)

The Hedgehog (also known as an Anti-Submarine Projector) was an anti-submarine weapon developed by the Royal Navy during World War II, that was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers to supplement the depth charge. The weapon worked by firing a number of small spigot mortar bombs from spiked fittings. Rather than working on a time or depth fuse like depth charges, the bombs exploded on contact and achieved a higher sinking rate against submarines than depth charges did.

The Hedgehog received its name because when unloaded, the rows of empty spigots resembled the spines of a hedgehog.

It was developed by the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development based on the British Army's Blacker Bombard and entered service in 1942.

Hedgehog was replaced in new construction for the Royal Navy by the Squid mortar in 1943. Squid was in turn replaced by the three-barreled Limbo. The United States produced a rocket version of Hedgehog called Mousetrap. The United States developed Weapon Alpha as a replacement for Hedgehog and Mousetrap. Hedgehog remained in service with the United States Navy into the cold war until both Hedgehog and the less satisfactory Weapon Alpha were replaced by ASROC.

The Hedgehog was adapted into a 7 shot launcher form for use on the back of the Matilda tank serving with Australian forces.

From 1949, a copy of Hedgehog was produced in the USSR as MBU-200, developed in 1956 into MBU-600 with enhanced range of 600 m.