They Called It "Impossible" — Until His Weapon Sank 47 U-Boats

Comments · 579

• AL

  @almiroff6949 · 7 months ago

  In ww2, my mom was a college student at Barnard college in nyc and commuting to school from her home where she was youngest girl of 4 kids of a chinese hand laundryman. That was socially low but the old guy revered education &nbsp;so all 4 went to Columbia university. &nbsp;Mom was tiny 4ft 6 or 7 inch. She was rejected from military service for being too small. &nbsp;She was good at physics and math . One of her professors had a navy contract that involved the Hedgehog. She was hired to do the physics and math calculations as the navy explored modifying the British weapon. They were looking at if they wanted a wider spread how much angle to change on spigot and if greater range needed how much further the added propellent should send shell vs what it did, etc.<br><br>In those days pre computer, a computer was a job title for someone who did math for a project. &nbsp;It gives me a real kick that my little mom &nbsp;played a roll in ww2 american anti sub warfare

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  @167curly · 7 months ago

  It is well known that many &nbsp;military bureaucracies were their own worst enemies by refusing to accept new ideas.

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• AL

  @AlanTheBeast100 · 7 months ago

  Great story. &nbsp;But the story is told with a lot of repetition. &nbsp;20 minute video crammed into 42 minutes.

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• KE

  @kennethrobinson-qn5rw · 7 months ago

  I thought i knew a lot about WW2, but I never knew anything about the creator . Thanks for that history lesson .

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• NI

  @Nite-owl · 7 months ago

  If it wasn&apos;t for the determination of people like Charles Goodeve, Barnes Wallis, Alan Turing (and other decoders) etc, the war could have turned out very differently.

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• SP

  @spencernorby6075 · 7 months ago

  So often bureaucrats proclaim themselves &quot;experts&quot; and quash the real experts from advancing great new things. It is the classic of people not realizing or admitting they do not even know how much they do not know.

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• BM

  @bmmarshall79 · 4 months ago

  This needs to be a movie

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• 96

  @964cuplove · 13 days ago

  As a post WW II German I knew about the hedgehog but I had no clue how the inventor had to overcome stubborn and stupid military… glad he succeeded and glad he got the recognition for it too.<br>And a pat on the back of Winston Churchill, well done skipping that lunch, but after all we was a naval officer, &nbsp;and not stupid…

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• RA

  @rays9501 · 1 month ago

  My father was a hero of the 2nd WW, like many more thousands 🇬🇧. He was called up and served under Captain Johnny Walker on the Atlantic Convoy escort group based in Liverpool. He survived and lived till his 87th year. May god bless him and all of 9f those hero&apos;s who fought for our freedom that we enjoy to this day. Thank you Dad.

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• BI

  @BillSmith-ut5li · 7 months ago

  They made it so accurate that all the WarHeads enter the water at the same time

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• JA

  @jamesjoy8866 · 5 months ago

  The first US destroyer i served on was built with hedge hog launchers that had been removed during prior modernizations. &nbsp;The Sonar still had the Aspect mode previously used to maneuver for a hedge hog attack. &nbsp;A paper chart would display time images of sonar returns of the sub attempting to detect last minute course changes before losing contact with the sub. &nbsp;<br><br>During an exercise where we station kept with a sub for days we were using our lowest power ping. &nbsp;One midwatch our watch supervisor decided to try the Aspect mode. &nbsp; It changed to rapid short pings and a nice beam image of the sub developed on the paper recorder. &nbsp;It took about two minutes for the sub to raise its UHF radio mast and tell us to knock it off. &nbsp;It was cool to see, now we know what that setting does. &nbsp;It also proves that if a sailor doesn’t know what a switch or button does, they are likely to try it. &nbsp; <br><br>I maintained the ASROC launch computer. &nbsp;I put a sign on the computer - If you can’t fix it, don’t touch it.

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• VI

  @vincep7723 · 7 months ago

  3rd Generation Veteran watching from SE Arizona. Great story. Well done and Thank You!

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