An anti-submarine rocket is an anti-submarine weapon type deployed on surface warships for the purpose of sinking or damaging submarines by small explosive charges. They are similar to anti-submarine mortar but a comparably more modern system. This type of weapon used rockets instead of spigot mortars to deliver the explosive.[1]
From World War I submarines posed a major threat to surface ships. Which necessitated the development of effective anti-submarine weapons. During World War II, The US developed first anti-submarine rocket Mousetrap to replace Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar.[2] Both had the common characteristic of throwing multiple depth charges ahead of the attacking vessel, while it was still in sonar contact. After World War II several other countries developed anti-submarine rocket. U.S. developed another system named RUR-4 Weapon Alpha.[3] Norway developed Terne. The Bofors 375 mm anti-submarine rocket was developed in 1950s by Sweden.[4] It had two or four barrels and fired a 550lb projectile up to . Due to the poor sonar conditions of the Baltic Sea, mortars, rocket and missile launchers still retain a place next to torpedoes. The USSR developed its own anti-submarine rockets in the RBU series and these are still in use in Russia.[1] [5] [6] China also developed multiple types of anti-submarine rocket system.[7] In 2015, Turkish company Roketsan unveiled a new 375 mm anti-submarine rocket system.[8] These systems also exported to multiple countries.
The homing torpedo and anti-submarine missiles have largely take the anti-submarine role, although anti-submarine rockets still used as secondary anti-submarine weapon by larger ships and primary anti-submarine weapon by small ships by several nations.[9] [1] [8] Compared to the anti-submarine torpedo and missile, range of the anti-submarine rocket is short. The former Soviet Navy (and by extension, the Russian Navy) is the largest user of anti-submarine rockets. Keeping with the Soviet idea that weapons should be simple and cheap, several versions of anti-submarine rockets were developed. Trials were also conducted on destroying oncoming torpedoes with anti-submarine mortars. The most common is the RBU-6000, which fires twelve 160lb projectiles in a horseshoe pattern up to away.[5]