Attacking enemy ships in rough weather

[p.jakub88]

Hello everyone,

I am currently playing RSRDC_TMO_V502 career.

Is there a good method to sink enemy merchant ships using torpedoes in bad weather?

Attacking them on surface with deck gun is impossible due to high waves.

Many times i was forced to break my attack due to the bad weather.

Even aiming with periscope is hard and i am loosing the sight of my target, so firing torpedoes is simply a waste.

I heard about a sonar only attack, how it could be done?

Thank You in advance for reply.

Jakub

[p.jakub88]

I found the Silent Hunter 4 WernerSobe Sonar Only Tutorial on YouTube.

The problem is, that the target draft will be not available, since we don't see the enemy ship through periscope in order to match it to the recognition manual and obtain its draft info.

I guess, that in this case it would be best to set the torpedoes depth to 0.

Moreover, this method could not be used against enemy warships, because they will locate You due to the active sonar ping sending.

I will try the method shown in the tutorial video in my career when i locate enemy merchant ship during bad weather.

[Outeniqua]

Originally Posted by p.jakub88

Moreover, this method could not be used against enemy warships, because they will locate You due to the active sonar ping sending.

I will try the method shown in the tutorial video in my career when i locate enemy merchant ship during bad weather.

Actually, none of the Silent Hunter games model the AI with active intercept. So you can use active ping as much as you want against a warship and it will be none the wiser.

If you want to go full subnerd, you can also develop a track with hydrophones only doing TMA. There's some good tutorials out there to explain how its done. I've only mainly used it to develop a track that I use to plot an intercept of very distant contacts, then rather doing something else when the target is close to refine the solution.

[p.jakub88]

Originally Posted by Outeniqua

Actually, none of the Silent Hunter games model the AI with active intercept. So you can use active ping as much as you want against a warship and it will be none the wiser.

Hello,

quote from the "High Realism Tutorial" from OTC 1.5 mod (which i am using):

"A quick word of caution:

Don’t think for a minute you can ping off merchants when an enemy warship is near. You just sent out a red flare that says “Hey, I’m over here”!! The sonar ping will put the warship in a trot heading in your direction with bad intentions."

So, maybe You are right in the stock SH4, but not in this case.

[Outeniqua]

Originally Posted by p.jakub88

Hello,

quote from the "High Realism Tutorial" from OTC 1.5 mod (which i am using):

"A quick word of caution:

Don’t think for a minute you can ping off merchants when an enemy warship is near. You just sent out a red flare that says “Hey, I’m over here”!! The sonar ping will put the warship in a trot heading in your direction with bad intentions."

I wasn't aware you were using that mod. In that case you have two options. Don't attempt to generate a solution, open distance and disengage, which is probably what the real skippers did. There will be more targets and better weather.

Or develop a solution with hydrophone bearings only. It's not too difficult, but it is time consuming and laborious, however it can be done. It's probably how HMS Venturer developed their solution that sunk U-864. If you can pull it off, it's extremely satisfying.

[p.jakub88]

Originally Posted by Outeniqua

I wasn't aware you were using that mod. In that case you have two options. Don't attempt to generate a solution, open distance and disengage, which is probably what the real skippers did. There will be more targets and better weather.

Or develop a solution with hydrophone bearings only. It's not too difficult, but it is time consuming and laborious, however it can be done. It's probably how HMS Venturer developed their solution that sunk U-864. If you can pull it off, it's extremely satisfying.

Hello,

ok no problem i did not mentioned it before.

Still i could use active sonar against lone enemy merchant ships, which i encountered many during my few RSRDC careers.

So far, i only came across 1 convoy in the Sea of Japan in the Summer of 1943. However, it was during a night and the weather conditions were good.

I even sunk a escort destroyer, leaving a merchant ship defenceless. I sunk him with deck gun, because i was low on torpedoes due to the cat and mouse game with the destroyer .

After few hourse came the rest of the convoy which i bypassed, because there was from 3-4 escort ships there.

[Downunderjock]

Not totally, impossible. Just a bit difficult though.
But if you are sort of up close and personal and at the right angle of the ship, it can be done.
Even, destroyers.