How Hedgehog changes an ASDIC attack

Would early Hedgehog weapons have improved Royal Navy anti-submarine warfare?

Yes. They could let escorts attack while preserving contact, reducing the need to divide tracking and attacking roles.

ASDIC contact could be lost when an escort passed over a submarine to drop depth charges. That often divided the work between one ship holding contact and another making the attack. Hedgehog threw its projectiles ahead, allowing the attacking escort to retain a useful acoustic picture for longer. Two escorts could maintain contact and fire without crossing each other's depth-charge runs. The weapon therefore made both single-ship and paired prosecutions more efficient.