question on manual targeting

[jason8888]

after you've done all of the steps to get the range, aob , speed and press the lil red fire solution button on the left side of the screen, can you unlock from target to tell the torpedo where to impact the ship or do you guys just work the spread to hit in multiple spots on the ship ?

[magic452]

For a pure TDC and PK shot I'll use the spread knob, but be careful it's very range dependent. At longer ranges a half a degree is all that is necessary.
+1/2°; 0; -1/2°.

Armistead came up with a different way and that is to turn off the PK and aim the scope just in front of the bow and send range than shoot when the fat parts cross the wire. Gotta be quick doing this but it works very good.

Both methods take some practice but you get the hang of it quick enough.

Magic

[joegrundman]

i think the spread button is unnecessarily complicated to use, since as magic 452 says, the angle settings become very dependent on range. The formula is quite complicated to get right (although it can be done) and adds an extra layer of difficulty when making the firing set up.

fyi, the formula is here



where coverage of 100% means the spread will exactly match the target length, 80% will mean if accurate each torpedo will strike the hull somewhere, 150% means the spread is wider than the target length (useful if being sure you want to hit the target), tta is torpedo track angle, ie the angle at which the torpedo will hit the target.

much easier is to use a longitudinal spread which magic452 generously attributes to armistead.

it looks like this



it's easiest, and the best to start with, and its effective, but if you are spotted and the target turns away enough to miss the first torp, then it will miss all the torps. (PK should be off for this method)

other forms which cause more divergence and therefore are harder to avoid (but more work to set up) - in these there is no need to use the spread button, just aim the crosshairs at the right part of the target and send bearing data to the tdc just before firing







all images from the submarine torpedo fire control manual 1950

http://www.hnsa.org/doc/attack/index.htm

[bill clarke]

When in auto mode, what does locking the scope do?

[doulos05]

Originally Posted by bill clarke

When in auto mode, what does locking the scope do?

It centers the view on MoT, and (at least in TMO), configures your torpedoes to run at the depth of the target's keel.

[twm47099]

Originally Posted by doulos05

It centers the view on MoT, and (at least in TMO), configures your torpedoes to run at the depth of the target's keel.

In stock, locking (pressing "L") sets the depth for only the tube selected before you press "L". So if you fire 3 torps at one target, you would need to unlock and re lock for each tube fired to have the depth set.

Tom