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Ash can: A US Navy term for a Depth Charge, used for attacking enemy submarines. Suggested by its shape. A Depth Charge was a steel cylinder, filled with high explosive and fitted with a simple firing appliance, set off by the pressure of the water and adjustable to explode at any desired depth. Every anti-submarine vessel, destroyers etc., carried a number of depth-charges, dropped over the side at the place where the submarine was believed to be.[1]
References / notes
- ↑ Edward Fraser and John Gibbons (1925). Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases. Routledge, London p.10.
The above term is listed in our Compendium of the Great War.
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