Agrappling hook orgrapnel is a device that typically has multiplehooks (known asclaws orflukes) attached to arope orcable; it is thrown, dropped, sunk, projected, or fastened directly by hand to where at least one hook may catch and hold on to objects. Generally, grappling hooks are used to temporarily secure one end of a rope. They may also be used to dredge for submerged objects.
The device was invented by theRomans in approximately 260 BC.[1][2] The grappling hook was originally used in naval warfare to catch shiprigging so that it could beboarded.[3]
A common design has a central shaft with a hole ("eye") at the shaft base to attach the rope, and three or four equally spaced hooks at the end, arranged so that at least one is likely to catch on some protuberance of the target. Some modern designs feature folding hooks to resist unwanted attachment. Most grappling hooks are thrown by hand, but some used in rescue work are propelled bycompressed air (e.g., thePlumett AL-52),line thrower, mortar, or a rocket.[4]
Grappling hooks are used bycombat engineers to breach tactical obstacles. When used as such, the grappling hook is launched in front of an obstacle and dragged backwards to detonatetripwire-fused land mines, and can be hooked on wire obstacles and pulled to set off booby traps on the wire. The rifle-launched grapnel (LGH), a single-use grappling hook placed on the end of anM4/M16 rifle, is used for this purpose.[5][6] Acrossbow-launched version has been produced.[7] A grapnel can clear up to 99% of the trip-wires in a single pass.[8] InWW1, the Russian pilotAlexander Kazakov once unsuccessfully attempted to use a grappling hook to bring down a German spy plane.[9] DuringWW2 British and German ships towed grappling hooks in the hope of snagging or damaging enemy submarines,[10] a tactic also employed by the Japanese.[11] Grappling hooks were used by soldiers at theD-Day landings to aid in climbing the cliffs at the Normandy beaches. Some were rocket-propelled and launched from mortars.[12][13]
As well as thegrapnel anchor, grapnels are used in the removal and repair of subsea cables. Largecable layer ships drag huge grapnels across the seabed until they snag a cable.[14] They tend to have 4 more evenly spaced out hooks.
Grappling hooks, grapple guns, and their many variants have been a staple in many video games[15] as well as some cartoons likePhineas and Ferb.
Rocket-fired, grapnel-equipped ropes eventually become the primary tool of choice when ascending the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc.
