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- In grappling or wrestling the term hook refers to an arm or leg position designed to help control an opponent.
A grappling hook is a hook attached to a rope, designed to be thrown or projected a distance, where its hooks will engage with the target. Grappling hooks were originally used in naval warfare to catch the rigging of an enemy ship so that it could be drawn in and boarded. Later, grappling hooks were also used in rescue work or to assist in scaling walls.
The most common design consists of a central shaft with a hole at the base of the shaft, called an "eye" to attach the rope, and three equally spaced hooks at the end of the shaft, so arranged 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 by compressed air or a rocket.
Grappling hooks are currently used by combat engineers breaching tactical obstacles. The grappling hook is launched over the open ground in front of the obstacle and dragged backwards in an attempt to detonate trip-wire-fused land mines, and can be hooked onto wire obstacles and pulled to set off any booby traps on the wire. A tool available for this purpose is the rifle-launched grapnel, a single-use grappling hook placed on the end of an M4/M16 rifle. A grapnel can clear up to 99 percent of the trip-wires in a single pass.1
See also
References
- ^ Field Manual 3-34.2 Combined Arms Breaching Operations. 31 August 2000. Para. C-57 and Table C-2
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 6 December 2008, at 03:49.
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