Russia / USSR

ASW Weapons of World War II

Methods

Dropping depth charges off the stern via a rack or track was standard practice for destroyers and patrol ships in both World Wars.

Effectiveness

In World War I Russian ASW weapons and technology were primitive and ineffective with no enemy submarines being sunk by the Russian Navy with depth charges. There were no sonars or any acoustic detection devices in the navy and no effective ASW doctrine.

In World War II only 7 German submarines were sunk by depth charges although a grand total of 88,000 depth charges were expended (although many were used to destroy magnetic mines and not submarines).

No Soviet ship had sonar until 1941 and most of them did not receive any until the middle of the war. However, only 5% of the ships lost by the Soviet Navy were from submarine attacks and hence ASW efforts were not as important to the Soviet Navy as to other nations.

Soviet Depth Charges

4B-M

Date Of Design	N/A
Date In Service	1930
Total Weight	N/A
Explosive Charge	N/A
Sink Rate / Terminal Velocity	N/A
Settings	40 feet (12 m) or 79 feet (24 m)

Small depth charge based on a World War I depth charge design.

4B-B

Date Of Design	N/A
Date In Service	1930
Total Weight	N/A
Explosive Charge	N/A
Sink Rate / Terminal Velocity	N/A
Settings	40 feet (12 m), 79 feet (24 m), 118 feet (36 m) or 158 feet (48 m)

Large depth charge based on a World War I depth charge design

BB-1

Date of Design	N/A
Date In Service	1933
Total Weight	363.7 lbs. (165 kg)
Explosive Charge	300 lbs. (135 kg) TNT
Sink Rate / Terminal Velocity	7.55-8.2 fps (2.3-2.5 mps)
Settings	N/A

This was the main heavy depth charge of the Soviet Navy in World War II

Click for larger image. — BB-1 Depth Charge. Now at the Great Patriotic War Museum, Minsk, Belarus. Photograph copyrighted by Vladimir Yakubov.

BM-1

Date Of Design	N/A
Date In Service	1933
Total Weight	90 lbs. (45 kg)
Explosive Charge	55.1 lbs. (25 kg) TNT
Sink Rate / Terminal Velocity	6.9 - 7.55 fps (2.1-2.3 mps)
Settings	N/A

The main light depth charge of the Soviet Navy in World War II

Depth Charge Racks

The Soviet navy used two types of bomb racks. B-1 was a lever rack for 20 large BB-1 large depth charges and M-1 was a scoop type rack for 32 BM-1 small depth charges.

Depth Charge Projectors

BMB-1

Developed in 1940, this was the only Soviet depth charge projectors used by the navy, and they were nstalled on most Soviet destroyers in the first part of the war. Range of 43 yards, 87.5 yards or 120 yards (40 m, 80m or 110m). Angle of firing - 45 degrees. Fired 1 bomb at a time. Launcher weighted 427.7 lbs. (194 kg).