The "Hedgehog" is a world war vintage anti-
submarine weapon. In
World War I German U-boats found that the safest place to be is just below the surface directly ahead of a
destroyer. The destroyer captains were instructed to avout
rammming U-boats because of the damage caused to the ship. Oh, sure the U-boat was finished but the destroyer was also at risk. So the U-boat captains found that by staying just ahead of the destroyer they would not be rammed and the deck guns were ineffective. We needed a new weapon. Enter the Hedgehog.
The Hedgehog was mounted on the bow of a destroyer. It was a series of specialized depth charges that were launched in front of the ship. About 30 were fired at once, on the front of each warhead was a contact trigger. When the warhead bumped into something, like the hull of a sub, the explosives would detonate. (Push button, will explode). The projectiles were also equiped with a standard pressure trigger. When the reached a given depth (50 ft.) they would explode.
This weapon forced to U-Boat captains to alter their tactics.v\
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