Quote:
Originally Posted by banryu79
As Lokisaga said.
And because of that, it is a very good idea to try to plan & plot a sensible search pattern along the choosen area, with well thought out speed/time span to run on the surface VS speed/time span to run submerged. The aim is to optimize the covering of your area while minimizing the chances of losing any passing-by contact in the area.
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An effective search technique (and one that was used historically) is to plot a zigzag course moving along a known or suspected shipping lane. The legs should be about 50 km long, less if listening conditions are poor. The zigs should be 60° to each other. Move on the surface at Standard speed, about 10 kts. At the end of each leg, dive to 30 m (or less if the water is too shallow
) and slow to 2 kts. Listen for a couple of minutes, then turn 90° to one side. (This is called a "clearing turn" to check the sector directly behind the sub where the hydrophones can't hear.) When you reach 90°, go to Ahead Standard, return to course, and surface the boat. Tusns at the ends of the zigzag legs should be 120°. This search will cover a path 100 km wide with good probability of detecting any ship moving along it at 10 kts or less. To catch faster ships, or in poor listening conditions (like bad weather), narrow the search pattern legs. You can also do a search dive in the middle of each leg, although this will leave gaps along the outer edges.
It is important to realize that the hydrophones will
always detect ships at much greater range than you can see them. But for the hydrophones to be effective, you must be deep (30 m if you are using Rubini's hydrophone layers mod) and barely moving. But you can't cover much area that way. The sprint-and-listen approach - which is also what escorts use when hunting
you - doubles your search area.