Depth Charge facts

While investigating facts about Depth Charge Drink and Depth Charge Purina, I found out little known, but curios details like:

During a press conference in June 1943 Congressman Andrew May noted that Japanese depth charges detonated too soon to be effective. The Japanese changed depth charge tactics after the press releases, killing 800 US submariners

how depth charges work?

During WW2, a US politician got 800 sailors killed after bragging to the press about the Japanese setting off depth charges too early.

What is a depth charge coffee?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what was it like to be depth charged. Here are 22 of the best facts about Depth Charge Feed and Depth Charge Movie I managed to collect.

what is a depth charge drink?

1. A WWII Congressman publicly mentioned that US submarines escaped typically shallow Japanese depth charges, likely leading the Japanese to adjust and sink 10 additional subs and 800 service men.

2. A Russian navy officer, Vasili Arkhipov, opposed his commanding officer's decision to launch a nuclear torpedo in response to US practice depth charges during the Cuban Missile Crisis, thus averting a nuclear war and saving the world

3. In WWII, the USS O'Bannon found itself next to a surfaced Japanese sub. As the Japanese tried to man their deck guns, the O'Bannon's deckhands threw POTATOES at them. The Japanese thought they were grenades, buying the O'Bannon enough time to steer away and sink the sub with depth charges.

4. In 1962 Soviet Senior Officer Vasili Arkhipov convinced his captain not to launch a nuclear torpedo on the US after the submarine they were on was rocked by US depth charges, therefore single handedly stopping nuclear war.

5. Flying Officer Lloyd Allan Trigg of New Zealand is the only Victoria Cross recipient to receive the award based solely on testimony provided by enemy combatants. His VC was awarded on the testimony of the surviving crew of the German U-boat his plane sank with depth charges.

6. The USS William Porter broke friendly lifeboats with it's anchor, blew up a boiler, accidently dropped a depth charge while escorting Franklin D Roosevelt, mistakenly fired a torpedo at the president, and everyone was arrested. It was then destroyed by a Kamikaze plane that didn't even hit it.

7. Congressman Andrew Jackson May revealed highly confidential military information at a July 1943 press conference that American submarines and crew had a high survival rate because Japanese depth charges were typically fuzed to explode at too shallow a depth.

8. Black December which refers to at least nine shark attacks on humans causing six deaths that occurred along the coast of South Africa, starting on December 18, 1957. As a solution, the Navy dropped depth charges to kill sharks but ultimately only attracted more sharks.

9. The USS William D. Porter accidentally damaged a destroyer, mishandled a depth charge that could have destroyed the ship and almost sunk the USS Iowa, which would have killed President Franklin D. Roosevelt, all in less than a week.

10. While the USS William D. Porter was escorting a ship carrying Franklin D. Roosevelt to Tehran, it not only dropped a live depth charge into the water by mistake, but also accidentally fired a live torpedo at the President of the United States.

Why was depth charge invented?

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In response to the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing, US warplanes mistook the undersea shoal of Ferdinandea, near Sicily, for a Libyan submarine and dropped depth charges on it.

German submarine U-143 was sunk off Bermuda on Jun. 30 1942 when a depth charge dropped by an Allied PBM lodged in the teak planking of it's deck, only to detonate when the diving sub carried the explosive past its preset detonation depth. - source

In 1962, a nuclear armed Soviet submarine was hit by a small US depth charge signaling it to surface. In retaliation the submarine prepared to launch a nuclear torpedo. 2 out of the 3 commander's authorized the launch, but the third refused. Probably saving the world.

In 1956 when Icelandic fishermen failed to clear Killer Whales from their nets, the fishermen enlisted the help of the U.S. Air Force who used machine guns, rockets, and depth charges to drive the Orcas away. - source

When were depth charges invented?

Graham Island in Sicily was once mistaken for a submarine and attacked with depth charges

How do depth charges work?

The Royal Order of Whale Bangers was an “exclusive” club open only to airmen who have mistakenly dropped depth charges on whales, supposing them to be enemy submarines in WWII.

Vasili Arkhipov, a Russian executive officer aboard the famous K-19 submarine saved the world from nuclear war by rightfully agreeing not to launch nuclear torpedos against USA for misjudged depth charges.

The US Navy's new anti-sub/surface aircraft is a Boeing 737 that can launch Harpoon missiles, depth charges and even a light torpedo from 30,000 feet.