Jim Carriere wrote:

Gord Beaman wrote:

Jim Carriere wrote:


I've said it before, I believe a .50 caliber machine gun on a helo is
a better ASW weapon than any air dropped torpedo. Most of the time
you find a sub it will be on or near the surface taking a look. The
gun will make his life difficult because you will definitely hit him
with enough of the bullets. A perfect torpedo shot is pretty rare,
and even then it still might miss.


Would a fifty be of much concern to a sub?...I know that we had a
pair of .303's on Lancasters and they told us that it's value was
in keeping the sub's crew from manning their deck gun...do subs
even have a deck gun now? I doubt it.

I think it would make the periscope AFU, and before you think that's
too hard a target, aircrewmen occasionally hit smoke floats in
practice gunshoots. Not really sure about penetrating the pressure
hull, but API ammunition is pretty impressive stuff.

Considering that US 3" cannon rounds on DEs had a reputation for bouncing
off U-boat pressure hulls in WW2, I think we can safely assume that a
..50cal AP or API isn't going to hurt a more modern one. OTOH, rockets with
25 lb. solid steel heads would punch U-boat pressure hulls easily. The .50
cal along with the 20mm and even 40mm was useful for keeping the U-boat
crew from using their own guns, but nothing more.

Guy