Snorkel detection

[pythos]

I am thoroughly confused.

July 1943, Bay of Biscay, night time. Cruising under snorkel.

I get nailed by an aircraft. Boat ends up venting all fuel to sea, but the boat is pretty much a gonner any how.

The sea state was not smooth at all but not so rough to show the tower of the sub.

How in the hell did an aircraft see my snorkel, in the pitch black of night?

I didn't think the aircraft had the radar capable of detecting a snorkel mask until much later in the war. Despite that the radar gave only a rough idea of wear the boat was, it was the pilot's eyes that found the target, and on a semi stormy sea, I would think this would not be possible.

So far it has been more hazardous to snorkel than to cruise on the surface with the radar on, which just seems backwards.

Running OM 4, patch 2, with the om damage mod.

[cgjimeneza]

hi.

yes, coastal command has cenimetric radar from early 1943 on.

life is tough...

at least, were you leaving?

I managed to go from Lorient to Aruba, sink 5 ships and back, just to get killed 80 km from my home port....

it`s different here in the atlantic...

[pythos]

So the snorkel is effectively useless.

Centimetric was applied to aircraft then.

Well for the world this was a good thing.

For us players of german subsim games...not so goo;)

[cgjimeneza]

then, how come the japs are allways attacking us in the pacific... they didnt have centimetric radar... hmmmm

[cgjimeneza]

are you using op monsun plus patch 2 plus the new damage model????

that might help you with empting the fuel tanks...

[pythos]

Yea, I patched up to 2, and installed the damage mod.

This Venting out to sea was actually correct, all three bulkheads aft were very badly damaged, the Diesles were destroyed, as were the motors, along with damgage to the rear batteries.

I think in RL the boat would have in fact been blown in half.

I was just suprised that I got detected when snorkelling at night.

[GOZO]

then, how come the japs are allways attacking us in the pacific... they didnt have centimetric radar... hmmmm

They use the Gin & Tonic clear water of the pacific.;)

And patch3 of OM include the new damage model.:)

Quote: So the snorkel is effectively useless.....Not if you get the late war radar warner on top. Dont know if included in SHIV1.5?


Cheers

/OB

[kondor999]

I think this illustrates well why the Germans stopped transiting at night in the Bay of Biscay, IIRC. This originally applied to boats traveling on the surface, but with cm radar equipped a/c - well, you get the point.

At least during the day they had a fighting chance of seeing the a/c. Can you imagine how tedious it must have been to stare into the obs scope for hours on end, looking for an incoming Sunderland?

Jesus...

[Hartmann]

Can you imagine how tedious it must have been to stare into the obs scope for hours on end, looking for an incoming Sunderland?

Jesus...

it was a common practice in british submarines. :yep:

Despite all, is faster go to deep from snorkel depth than stay in the surface and do a crash dive.

Later in the war, a radar detector in the top of the snorkel is a must have