Convoy Attack Tactics

[maillemaker]

It depends.

If you want them to continue to have a go at the same target (or line of targets), then I will turn them to follow the course of the convoy.

If you are shooting at the front of the convoy and want to have a shot at bagging ships coming up from behind, turn them towards the rear of the convoy.

You can adjust the leg length depending on how many ships are on either side of your intended target. If there are many columns of ships, a longer leg might bag some of them. But the longer the legs the quicker your fish runs out of gas before making much headway up or down the heading, especially if you fired from far away.

Honestly I don't give FAT setup a whole lot of thought during the attack, as things are happening too fast for me to be able to choose very tactical settings for them. I'm more focused on getting a good straight-run hit.

As a result, I'd bet FATs have only gotten me an unintentional hit maybe less than 5% of the time. Probably less than 3%.

Now acoustic homing torpedoes, on the other hand...they are magical in SH3. You can completely strip a convoy of its escorts with them. A wolfpack fully armed with those would have been a disaster for convoys.

Steve

[Zosimus]

What depth do you set them at? I can easily see shooting them at a destroyer, purposely setting the speed a bit low, knowing that the torpedo will turn and climb right up the destroyer's rear for a devastating explosion just under the stern.

Guys, excuse me, how actually acoustic homing work?

During my GWX campaign, long time ago, I was lucky to live till really very early 44 (January ). I always relied on T-IIIs for stealthy actions and I never got to try acoustic homing Thanks.

[UKönig]

The type 5 acoustical homing torpedo was developed to combat the increased effectiveness of the destroyer escorts and hunter-killer groups.
4 holes in the front of the warhead had microphone pickups which would allow the torpedo to 'hear' the sound of the screws or even auxiliary machinery and turn in the appropriate direction (of the loudest sound it could pick up), until 'contact' was made.
In short, Lt. Werner "iron coffins", page 160-161 says...
The motorship (I was observing from) increased her speed sharply. In a few minutes, I could see a greenish iridescent light in the dark waters, rapidly coming towards us. Our ship turned to port, the light followed. We turned to starboard, the light stayed with us. The luminous (dummy) torpedo came closer still. The ship went into a wild zig-zag motion to escape the homing weapon. But the light in the sea followed diligently, reducing distance, then suddenly, dashed below the stern. That was when the warhead would have detonated, but in our case, the dummy torpedo with the luminous head continued on its track, shot ahead of us, and attacked our ship a second time. Then it passed below the keel, executed a long loop, repeated its snake like patterns and made yet another pass before its batteries were exhausted. Then it surfaced like a dead fish, its bright headlight glowing in the black water...
The escort killer torpedo was outfitted with homing sensors that guided it towards the sounds of a ship's propeller, or, if it was motionless, to the sounds of its auxiliary machinery. It was enough to launch the thing in the general direction of the target, the torpedo found its own way from there, no matter how violently a vessel tried to evade.
Unfortunately for the Germans, it was the Canadians who quickly (within hours of being introduced to the new weapon) developed countermeasures, in the form of 'foxers'. A rattler bouy trailed some distance behind the warship which would make more noise than the propellers, and thus, be the first thing the acoustical seeker found.

[Zosimus]

CATs (Counter-Acoustic Torpedoes) developed by the Canadians, and copied by the Americans under the FXR or "Foxer" program were effective against the Zaunkönig (hereinafter called GNATs for the German Navy Acoustic Torpedo) only because the majority of the time U-boats fired at onrushing destroyers (usually blindly) counting on the GNATs to home in on the propellers and then U-boats were ordered to dive, so the exact success or failure of the GNATs were unknown and unmeasurable.

Foxers drew the GNATs, definitely, and usually the GNATs would endlessly circle the Foxer device or blow up astern of the ship.

However, if the GNATs were fired from behind the destroyer, the Foxers drew the GNATs in for a pass under the Foxer, and on to the propellers of the escort, which was blown to pieces.

Later the US Navy developed Fanfare, which substantially improved on the FXR design.

[bstanko6]

Number one tip I can give you. early in the war, attack on the surface at night! Do this! Do this often! it works. Just today I took on two Auxiliary Cruisers with a DD escort at around 2030 hrs, clear sky no waves. Got in close about 1200 meters, killed the engines, and drifted well in around 800 meters, fired all four eels, hit the trailing Aux, missed the first, spun around and hit the first with the stern eel. Took off before the DD sent up the star shells! I was never even seen once. I even considered taking on the DD with the deck gun, but I was no where near my mission area, and did not want to sacrifice hull integrity.
And when you depart from the area, keep the escorts at your stern, do not show them your broadside as the could see you. show them as little of you as possible.

This is a great tactic. If you come across a convoy, stalk it til night fall, and I mean night, not dusk. You wont make it!