In my effort to find photos I missed earlier, I came across a nice one showing the depth charge racks.
While a U.S. submarine chaser in WWI was armed with a deck gun and machine guns, the purpose of the vessels was to deliver depth charges. A Y-gun amidships was used to launch a pair of charges over the side, while in the rear racks held charges that could be rolled off the stern.
This arrangement led to a planned attack pattern where a unit of three chasers would approach the target location, roll charges off the stern, then the wing boats would turn away from the unit leader, and the Y-guns would be fired so that the overall pattern covered a wide area.
In this photo, from a collection of photos from SC 179, we see chasers with depth charges on steel racks on the stern, a common configuration, although different kinds of racks are shown in other shots.
Thanks to Joe Brier, son of SC 179 crewman Charles I. Brier, for submitting this photo set to The Subchaser Archives.
I hope you are enjoying the spring, and that the wet snow in the forecast up here is the last of the year.
--Todd Woofenden, editor