Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks

[Majestik 909]

Hmmmmmm

[Rockin Robbins]

However, this thread is oriented toward the newbie, who can't quite get a handle on the process of getting a torpedo out of their submarine and into the side of an unsuspecting merchant ship, preferrably one belonging to the enemy.

For that, I recommend a stock or Game Fixes Only installation, first with automatic targeting. This is because unless you lean boat handling to achieve a good firing position you can't hit the target, no matter how great you are at manual targeting.

So learn to walk first. Learn to position yourself so that the target will pass at right angles to your course, or close to that, and will pass under a thousand yards from you. That means you have to develop the skill of determining target course and speed. You have to learn at what range you will be spotted on the surface, where you have much greater speed, and when you must submerge in order to avoid an alarmed merchie changing course to get away.

You don't have to in automatic targeting, but get in the habit of determining enemy course and speed as early as possible. That will help when you take the training wheels off and go manual.

Once you are comfortable with boat handling and it's natural to you, THEN it's time to proceed to manual targeting. Boat handling is pretty automatic and you don't have to think too much about it. Believe me, it's plenty to think about when you're beginning manual targeting. It's an exacting process and you don't want to be distracted by other aspects like boat handling.

I recommend that you don't learn manual targeting with TMO. You need all the help you can get to be able to visualize the process so it is something that makes sense, not just a list you must check off for who knows what reason. When you know why you remember much better. The stock tracking system tells you why and you can check your work quickly.

[Rockin Robbins]

Why in the world would I get involved in producing a shooting technique for Silent Hunter 4, name it after a famous submarine commander, Dick O'Kane, and never read his book? Well, for some reason I hadn't read Dick O'Kane's Clear the Bridge until now. Stupid!

In answer to the enquiries about whether Dick O'Kane ever used such a technique or whether ANYONE had used something like the Dick O'Kane Technique during the war, my stock answer is that we developed the Dick O'Kane Technique entirely in the game and with MoBo. Although the technique is historically plausible, it COULD have been executed by a real submarine, we have no evidence it was ever used. It was merely named in honor of a great submarine commander and we do not imply that he did anything like the Dick O'Kane Manual Targeting Technique.

Then I read chapter 7 of Clear the Bridge yesterday:

“We’ve got her on course two seven zero, speed eight, Captain.” It was Fraz's voice. "Range twenty-eight hundred, we're twelve hundred yards from her track. It looks good from here." It looked good from the bridge, too, but a bit scarier perhaps, for at this stage her angle on the bow looked very sharp, and a slight change of enemy course would put us underfoot. That was always the case if you were really right in there, and there were invariably anxious moments until the rate of change of her angle became pronounced with the decreasing range. Perhaps it was well that I was busy twisting our boat for a minimal silhouette, marking bearings, and then settling her on the heading for near zero gyro shots. A black squall in back of us gave us further security from detection, but I more than welcomed Fraz's call, "Ten degrees to go, Captain."
"She's turned back, but she'll never make it." It was Jones, just in back of me, keeping track of the bow escort. I knew exactly what he saw: The escort ahead was coming toward us. It was like having another pair of eyes and the judgment to go with them.
"Constant bearing-mark!"
"Set" from the conning tower.
"Fire"
The next three torpedoes, each fired to hit a specific point, zinged out at eight-second intervals. From the instant of firing it was impossible for the enemy to maneuver his 600-foot ship to clear the divergent torpedo tracks. The whacks of the first two detonations

We can now say that the Dick O'Kane technique has left the realm of merely being historically plausible to being able to say that Dick O'Kane himself executed such an attack on the very first target recorded for the Tang.

[Gray Lensman]

In a sense, Clear the Bridge is like the 2nd half of the book Wahoo started. Reading them back to back is the best way to enjoy them.

Anyone who has not read them should get both of them together and enjoy the read.

[Rockin Robbins]

I'll bet you've notice that all my Photobucket links are broken. I've decided that this thread is important enough to restore the links. I believe I have everything from Photobucket transferred over to Google Photos, from which I will replace the links.

This will be a long-term, slow project. Every company comes to a crisis, during which they decide whether they will live or they will die. Photobucket has made an executive decision to anger the entire Internet, which will kill them. I would love to have a video of that meeting!

To paraphrase the sage and all-seeing InspiroBot.me*:

Freedom is sometimes like a maze
Very entertaining for the survivors

Among Photobucket's bucket of freedom was the decision to die. They made that decision and now we get to be entertained.

*Warning. Do not click this link. It will suck up whole days of your life. It will take the place of sleep, food, sex and any other activities you cherish. You have been warned.

[Rockin Robbins]

All essential graphics formerly kept at Photobucket, which has decided to die, are not relinked from another source and the thread pretty much restored to its former self.

[Platapus]

The three printable crib cards on the first page have broken links. Are these images stored somewhere else?

They are far too handy to lose.

[l02turner]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Why in the world would I get involved in producing a shooting technique for Silent Hunter 4, name it after a famous submarine commander, Dick O'Kane, and never read his book? Well, for some reason I hadn't read Dick O'Kane's Clear the Bridge until now. Stupid!

When I first started playing SH4 many years ago I read all I could find from US Sub Commanders from WW2 and "Clear the Bridge" is my favorite! Glad to hear you enjoyed it too - O'Kane had a great career!

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by l02turner

When I first started playing SH4 many years ago I read all I could find from US Sub Commanders from WW2 and "Clear the Bridge" is my favorite! Glad to hear you enjoyed it too - O'Kane had a great career!

Absolutely! I'd argue the Eugene Fluckey's career was more outstanding, but Fluckey didn't have to suffer the kind hospitality of a Japanese POW camp for a significant part of the war. But tactics-wise, those two skippers taught me just about all I know.