Q&A · 1:44:26-1:48:41

What capital-ship hydrophones and ASDIC achieved

Underwater detections and submarine-ramming claims are discussed with a clear distinction between tentative recollections and confirmed kills.

Question

What notable results did hydrophones or ASDIC aboard cruisers, carriers, and battleships achieve?

Short answer

Prinz Eugen's detection is the question's example. The response adds a tentative King George V claim and several submarine rammings, while stressing uncertainty about confirmed sinkings.

Notes

The question supplies Prinz Eugen's Denmark Strait detection as an example of a large warship using hydrophones. King George V is then suggested as having detected and sunk a submarine, but the identification is uncertain. The discussion broadens to submarine rammings by battleships across both world wars. A tentative recollection gives six or seven rammings but only about two confirmed kills, so a collision should not automatically be counted as a sinking. The separate collision with Punjabi is explained through storm conditions and zigzagging, rather than treated as evidence for a submarine kill.