viic sub question - loading external reserves

[Webster]

how do i access and transfer the external reserves of ammo and torpedos to my internal stores? i need to know how to and key commands.

[Letum]

Click n' Drag

Happy hunting

[Venatore]

And make sure your surfacing running and not in silent running.

[3Jane]

In actuality it would have been physically impossible to load external torpedos in bad weather and rough sea states, but the game allows you to do it I have found. Also in visual range of convoys etc. Depending on how much realism you want, you have to discipline your self as to when and where you reload external stores. It normaly takes about an hour to load an external torpedo and it will drive the crew fatigue levels way up, so it might not be advisable to load externals just before an attack when you need your repair crews at their best.

[Jimbuna]

Ensure the green bar in the torpedo room is at least half way full

[zaunkonigII]

I read somewhere - actually in "Sharks and Little Fish" by Wolfgang Ott - that the external to internal torp transfer involves:

1. Send a few men into the water to detach external torp from hull(usually the sides).
2. Set a few inflatable lifejackets under the torp, and inflate all until torp floats.
3. Set forward deck awash.
4. Maneuver torp on top of forward deck.
5. Surface forward deck.
6. Carry the torp by hand through the conning tower hatch, to the command room, and into the torp room.

Pretty hard work, if you ask me. And if the sub patrol is in arctic waters, then...:rotfl:

It also puzzles me - how can you do the above when you are running at 12 knots? :hmm: SH3 should only allow external torp reloadin when speed is at 0 knots.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by zaunkonigII

6. Carry the torp by hand through the conning tower hatch, to the command room, and into the torp room.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

The conning tower hatch?!?! Noooooo!

hehe....there are 2 hatches on the deck for loading torps! The external torpes are usually stored below the deck. They are only "external" because they are outside the pressure-hull. A winch attached to the radio cables and the conning tower was used to lift the tail of the fish so it could slide into the loading hatch.

[Zero Niner]

Somone posted a link to an animated illustration some time ago. It showed the whole process, from retrieving the spare torp out of its storage location until its insertion into the torpedo compartment.

[zaunkonigII]

I thought the torp loading hatch was only on the IX class?

[Woof1701]

Since it isn't possible to load a torp through the tower hatch and get it throught the boat, all uboats with aft tubes had two loading hatches. One front and one aft above the torpedo rooms. The weren't vertical, so the torpedo could be slid into the boat and hung where it belonged. Typ II and XXI had only one loading hatch while the Typ XXIII had none at all because it was too small and only carried the torps in the tubes. In addition a Typ VII had an additional hatch above the kitchen to load supplies.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by zaunkonigII

I read somewhere - actually in "Sharks and Little Fish" by Wolfgang Ott - that the external to internal torp transfer involves:

1. Send a few men into the water to detach external torp from hull(usually the sides).
2. Set a few inflatable lifejackets under the torp, and inflate all until torp floats.
3. Set forward deck awash.
4. Maneuver torp on top of forward deck.
5. Surface forward deck.
6. Carry the torp by hand through the conning tower hatch, to the command room, and into the torp room.

Pretty hard work, if you ask me. And if the sub patrol is in arctic waters, then...:rotfl:

It also puzzles me - how can you do the above when you are running at 12 knots? :hmm: SH3 should only allow external torp reloadin when speed is at 0 knots.

Sorry matey but this is a clear case of "DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ"

[Woof1701]

Right!

1. The torpedos are directly below the deck grating in watertight compartments. So no need to send someone swimming.
2. A few life jackets wouldn't be able to hold the weight of a 1-ton torpedo.
3. Since the torpedo isn't in the water it would only make the crew slip and fall
4. It already is.
5. It still is
6. You wouldn't be able to carry a torpedo up to the conning tower hatch, let alone through it. In any case the command room is not big enough to move the 7 meter torpedo around and then carry it through the boat.

Even if you imagine one man carrying 70 kilograms you'd need 14 men to carry one torpedo. Even on the small deck that's pretty hard. Inside it's impossible.

But you're right of course. Getting the external torpedoes inside in bad weather and at 12 knots wouldn't have worked in real life.

[3Jane]

Slightly OT, but I remember reading about a submarine commander, I am sure it was in WWI. If a shot failed to hit the target, he used to follow the spent torpedo along it's track, and recover it through the torpedo tubes ready for refurbishment and re-use. :p

[Woof1701]

How would he do that? A torpedo that didn't explode normally sank to the bottom as soon as it had run out of fuel and lost its momentum. As far as I know torpedoes don't swim. Like airplanes they only stay at a certain depth because of speed and the steering fins.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Woof1701

How would he do that? A torpedo that didn't explode normally sank to the bottom as soon as it had run out of fuel and lost its momentum. As far as I know torpedoes don't swim. Like airplanes they only stay at a certain depth because of speed and the steering fins.

The training torps used to have positive bouncy and a little flag on the nose so they could be recovered by ships and reused.

Even if war torpedoes had positive bouncy I doubt the fuel systems of batteries on them could easily be renewed.
Also, only a madman would drive a sub near a torp whose warhead was still live!