Large format Maneuvering Board

[muser]

I've been teaching my son (he's in the sixth grade) a little geometry and trig by using the target plotting aspects of SH3 as a fun tool. We use simple one or two vessel missions that I've set up for this purpose. After doing this for a while on the computer, I realized it might be more helpful to have an actual physical plotting board on which to track our hapless victims.

By searching the web, I found one put out by the Defense Mapping Agency (their form 5090) but unfortunately the image quality was not very good and the distance scales were in yards and nautical miles -- not meters and kilometers like SH3 uses. Unable to find anything set up for meters and kilometers, I modified the distance scale, and reformatted the DMA board to print out at 20" x 24" which fits on a 20" x 30" piece of foam board quite well. Covered with a piece of thin plexiglass, it is reusable and very durable. We use grease pencils to plot the course of our targets.

Here are a few before and after images.

Original DMA form 5090 -- using yards and nautical miles:



My 20" x 24" Silent Hunter III version with distance scales in meters and kilometers:
(The actual image quality is much better than seen here.)



Closeup of original distance scale:



Closeup of meters and kilometers distance scale:




Also, here is a 20" x 24" Silent Hunter IV version with distance scales in yards and nautical miles:
(The actual image quality is much better than seen here.)




We printed ours out on nine pieces of paper which we then had to cut and paste together -- kind of tedious. But I'm pretty sure you could send the file to an online printer like ezprints and they can print you a 20x24 image for about $20.

The publication date of the original edition of the DMA form 5090 was 1920, so I guess it counts as a period piece, but of course it's not printed in German so I can't say it adds much to the U-boat atmosphere of the game.

Anyway, I thought some of you might find these useful.


Here is the link to my meters and kilometers Silent Hunter III version:
http://files.filefront.com/plotboard.../fileinfo.html

This link will take you to the yards and nautical miles Silent Hunter IV version:
http://files.filefront.com/plotboard.../fileinfo.html

Here is a link to chapter six of the pub 1310 plotting manual (explains how to use the maneuvering board):
http://files.filefront.com/plotting_.../fileinfo.html

Here is a link to the complete "Radar Navigation and Maneuvering Board Manual" Pub.1310:
http://files.filefront.com/pub1310_c.../fileinfo.html

If there is a problem with any of the above links, try the following link from which you should be able to access all the above files:
http://hosted.filefront.com/alongnightsmuse


By the way, thanks for a great forum!
I've learned a lot from you guys and gals.

[bigboywooly]

Cool idea
Will have to give this a go

[Venatore]

This is excellent, I think Silent Hunter III should be in all schools to teach those young people that type of stuff..........but I don't think it would be accepted by the teacher committee. This is a good find thanks !

[JSalinger]

*shrugs* Oh I dunno...prior to me going and not playing SH3 for a couple months, I had it installed on a computer in German teacher's classroom, a computer in my math teacher's classroom, and on a computer in my physics teacher's classroom to play during downtime...it was pretty funny...between the three of them, they only managed to last a grand total of four patrols, even on 0% realism. *laughs*

[Mush Martin]

that is splendid very nice

[joea]

The yards and miles version will be good for SHIV too!!