Blacktail
I really should change my personal text
- Joined
- 29 March 2013
- Messages
- 26
- Reaction score
- 10
Most of us have heard of the RUR-5 ASROC anti-submarine rocket system, but I'll bet few of you know about it's predecessor --- the RUR-4 Weapon Alpha (also called "Weapon Able", for some reason).
There's data on it here...;
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/r-4.html
...and this is a photo of the launcher doing it's thing;
Unlike the ASROC, which carries a nuclear warhead or a Mk.46 Torpedo, the Weapon Able drops a conventional depth charge into the water (you'd better be a damned good shot to nail a sub!), and has only a single launch tube. That said, it's pretty obvious why it never caught-on.
Obviously, that's stuff you can find anywhere on the internet, but I have a story about this weapon that I'm fairly sure has NEVER been seen on the 'net before.
My father was an officer on the USS Carpenter (DD-825), which was one of only a handful of warships ever fitted with the Weapon Alpha. She was also one of the first to carry the Weapon Alpha, so she was a sort of a testbed if you will. Now, this being the US Navy, that also meant that she was a showcase for selling Congress on giving the Navy more funding, by showing-off her shiny new toys.
In one such occasion, my father tells me, the Carpenter played host to a large delegation of VIPs, who were treated to a demonstration of the weapons on-board (others of which were *also* very uncommon stuff, like the Mk.37 twin 3"/70 gun). As the crew trained the launcher all over the place, CDR Melvin Earl Bustard (the ship's CO) gave a detailed summary of the weapon's role, specifications, history, capabilities, and so on, and eventually the Weapon Alpha came to a complete stop. Bustard told the delegation that this "dry run" indicated that weapon had locked-onto the target, fired, and the target had been destroyed.
In reality, the Weapon Alpha turret stopped suddenly because it broke down! XD
Here's a photo of the Carpenter, in which the RUR-4 Weapon Alpha and Mk.37 3" gun turret are both visible;
There's data on it here...;
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/r-4.html
...and this is a photo of the launcher doing it's thing;
Unlike the ASROC, which carries a nuclear warhead or a Mk.46 Torpedo, the Weapon Able drops a conventional depth charge into the water (you'd better be a damned good shot to nail a sub!), and has only a single launch tube. That said, it's pretty obvious why it never caught-on.
Obviously, that's stuff you can find anywhere on the internet, but I have a story about this weapon that I'm fairly sure has NEVER been seen on the 'net before.
My father was an officer on the USS Carpenter (DD-825), which was one of only a handful of warships ever fitted with the Weapon Alpha. She was also one of the first to carry the Weapon Alpha, so she was a sort of a testbed if you will. Now, this being the US Navy, that also meant that she was a showcase for selling Congress on giving the Navy more funding, by showing-off her shiny new toys.
In one such occasion, my father tells me, the Carpenter played host to a large delegation of VIPs, who were treated to a demonstration of the weapons on-board (others of which were *also* very uncommon stuff, like the Mk.37 twin 3"/70 gun). As the crew trained the launcher all over the place, CDR Melvin Earl Bustard (the ship's CO) gave a detailed summary of the weapon's role, specifications, history, capabilities, and so on, and eventually the Weapon Alpha came to a complete stop. Bustard told the delegation that this "dry run" indicated that weapon had locked-onto the target, fired, and the target had been destroyed.
In reality, the Weapon Alpha turret stopped suddenly because it broke down! XD
Here's a photo of the Carpenter, in which the RUR-4 Weapon Alpha and Mk.37 3" gun turret are both visible;
