Sub-Hunting with the RAF and Royal Navy

SSBN Delta IV Class From the end of the Second World War, it was clear that Russian submarines would pose a significant threat to the Western lifeline across the North Atlantic between America and Western Europe once the Soviet authorities put captured German technology to use. Finally, the Royal Navy had accepted the importance of the ASW role, and would not forget it as had happened at the end of World War I.

Thankfully, the Allied navies hard-won anti-submarine experience was not degraded beyond its ability to function in the Post World War Two reduction of the armed forces. The use of aircraft in the anti-submarine role continued, with radar-equipped ASW aircraft appearing in greater numbers. The land-based aircraft retained its ASW patrol role as well, with the application of Magnetic Anomaly Detectors and airdropped sonar buoys.

NATO laid sonar detectors at strategic points throughout the North Sea and Northern Atlantic, known as SOSUS (Sound Surveillance System), to track Soviet submarines as they moved out into the Atlantic. Examination of the acoustic return determines the nature of the contact be it a submarine, whale or other harmless object.

The aircraft carriers and their battlegroups were obviously large and predominate targets for Soviet submarines and were defended by smaller ASW carriers and later the frigate and destroyer launched ASW dedicated helicopter such as the Wessex, Sea King and Lynx.

In the 1950s the introduction of teardrop-shaped high speeds submarine hulls brought new challenges in detection, increased in the next decade by the introduction of the nuclear powered submarine, which led to new techniques and progressive developments in ASW aircraft and equipment.

The Soviet Navy's main access to the NATO transatlantic lifeline was from their bases in the Baltic, Black Sea and the Arctic through a series of geographical chokepoints where the NATO navies would be waiting to pounce. The most northerly route, and the one which the UK was principal defendant of, was the Greenland-Iceland-Uk gap, the 185 miles wide Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland and the 500 miles of sea between Iceland, the Faeroe Islands and Britain.

Even in peacetime, the aircraft of Coastal patrolled the GIUK gap and later Strike Command and the movement of every Soviet vessel carefully monitored and plotted. On every patrol, the ASW crews played out their role for real and were armed with live weapons.

In the event of war, Norwegian aircraft would have been the first to detect Soviet submarine movements, warning the assets in the GIUK gap for possible action. The Scotland based ASW aircraft and the Royal Navy assets would be responsible for holding the Soviets until US and NATO reinforcements could be rushed into positions to deal with any breakout beyond the GIUK gap.

The advent of the Ballistic Missile Submarine saw the submarine threat multiply out-of-all proportion to the numbers of submarines deployed. One SLBM armed submarine could wreck a nation.

ASW aircraft and surface ships with improved sonar, both hull-mounted and towed countered the submarine threat. Conventional and nuclear-armed depth charges that could reach the depths with greater lethality were increased beyond the range of the depth charge by missile and rocket carried torpedoes and depth bombs such as ASROC. Fleet submarines, both conventional and nuclear-powered, posed threats to enemy missile submarines with wire-guided torpedoes. At the end of the Cold War anti-ship, cruise missile and rocket-propelled torpedoes or depth bombs had begun to appear on submarines of all sides and were able to increase the submarine's lethality beyond the horizon. Submarines could also be used to lay minefields to attack enemy shipping.

The Hunt

The anti-submarine engagement typically has six stages: search, contact, approach, attack, close combat and disengagement.

Search: Either a general convoy protection measure or a specific area search directed by information gained from other sensors.
Contact: Contact encompasses detection of the target then classification by the acoustic return.
Approach: This would normally involve tracking the target, ideally by passive means, and to localize the target.
Attack: The first attack on the target by an anti-submarine weapon. If torpedo or ASROC this would be launched from a distance. If by rolled or thrown depth charges this would sometimes be by running over the target and dropping the depth-charge pattern on top of the target.
Close Combat: A repeating pattern of locating and attacking the target while avoiding attacks until the target is eliminated.
Disengagement: Leaving the area.

We would like to thank Paul Hill for his help in writing this page

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