The primary goal in their use is not to sink the submarine, but rather to take it out of action. The ambient noise created by their use will generally deny the submarine the use of sonar. Furthermore, the shock wave may disable internal equipment that could take the submarine out of action. For example, the shock wave may damage torpedo launching equipment or vital propulsion related machinery. Depth charges are typically either thrown over the side, shot out of cannons, or are rocket-propelled.
All methods have limited range and accuracy.
Torpedoes Torpedoes are self-contained weapon systems. At the low end of sophistication, they are straight-running underwater bombs. At the high end, they have active and passive sonar seekers, and can be guided remotely or send telemetry information over a thin wire back to the launch platform. Lightweight torpedo being launched from surface ship. Nose section .