page_title: Anti-submarine mortar
section_title: WWII anti-submarine mortars
hierarchical_section_title: Anti-submarine mortar / WWII anti-submarine mortars
caption_attribution_description: English: Anti-Submarine Weapons: Hedgehog, a 24 barrelled anti-submarine mortar mounted on the forecastle of HMS Westcott. Español: Marineros aliados cargan morteros anti-submarinos, conocidos como Hedgehog (erizo). El desarrollo aliado del sonar y del fuego anti-submarino dieron la estocada final a la Kriegsmarine 日本語: イギリス海軍のアドミラルティW級駆逐艦　HMS　ウエストコット　に装備されたヘッジホッグ（Mk.10）　1945年 の撮影
context_page_description: Anti-submarine mortars are artillery pieces deployed on ships for the purpose of sinking submarines by a direct hit with a small explosive charge. They are often larger versions of the mortar used by infantry and fire a projectile in relatively the same manner. They were created during World War II as a development of the depth charge and work on the same principle.
context_section_description: During World War II submarines once again posed a major threat to Allied shipping, which necessitated the development of more effective anti-submarine mortars. These all had the common characteristic of throwing multiple charges ahead of the attacking vessel, while it was still in sonar contact. The first was the famous Hedgehog, which consisted of 24 small mortar rounds, each one 7 inches (180 mm) in diameter and weighing 65 pounds with a 35-pound warhead. Each projectile had a range of about 250 yards (230 m) and was fired in a circular pattern in front of a ship. While the warhead on a Hedgehog was much smaller than that of a depth charge it scored three times as many kills than its predecessors. This was due to the use of a contact fuse on the projectile, which would only detonate on impact with a target. Since the projectile would only explode on a hit the long periods of sonar "blackout" from the blast and turbulence of a conventional depth charge explosion were eliminated. In the later stages of World War II the Hedgehog was complemented in Britain by the Squid three-barrelled depth charge mortar, which fired 390-lb depth charges to a range of 250 metres, and in the US by the Mousetrap rockets.
caption: Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar on the forecastle of HMS Westcott, 28 November 1945
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