Your best TDC shots?

[CCIP]

Just wondering how well some of the other captains who use manual TDC have done? :p

I've had two really good ones to brag about so far.

- I was running in the Sulu sea in windy weather, submerged at 150ft for the day - sonarman picks up a warship contact and I come up to take a look. Eventually I spot a minelayer in the distance; I'd surface, but I already know he's going to spot me, and if I spend too long chasing him, I'll get attacked by aircraft. I do what I can to catch up on his position without surfacing, and manage to get to about 2800 yards (or is that meters?) off him.
So, I guess his speed to be 10kt, set up two solutions, and fire off tubes 1 and 2. Really thankful for the stadimeter there - it'd be impossible to calculate a solution without it in that weather :yep:
I watch him steaming by for two and a half minutes, the timer on my stopwatch seems to run out... so I give up, order down scope and jack up the time compression. As soon as I do, the game jumps out of time compression with "torpedo impact" and "enemy unit destroyed" :doh: I raise the scope in time to watch the second torpedo slam into the sinking hulk. A good 4000t kill :smug:

-Second one was last night - at night time, I came across a pair, a Shiratsuyu destroyer followed by a subchaser. I could only get so close to them before submerging; but they never noticed me.
Again, guessing their speed to be about 10kt, I see that they're not going to get very close and it wouldn't be worth wasting many torpedoes - but I can't let the chance go! So, I set up a solution at 2200 yards, and fire a single torpedo at the destroyer.
About two minutes later, with nothing happening, I'm about to order "down periscope", when all of a sudden there's a brilliant flash and the enemy destroyer breaks in two. Subchaser leaves, tail between legs :smug:

Your sinkings, please :|\\

[AVGWarhawk]

Best solution I have had was a large composite freighter. I was 1500 yards off for the solution. The TDC was set up DEAD PERFECT. I had my scope down and just watched my TDC until I reached party time....this means 1500 yards or closer. I let my 3 fish go. Sat and watched the timer. Two direct hits and one dud. The best part...TDC dead on and no scope to watch, just fired when the best possible situation showed itself on the TDC while submerged and scope down. The TDC is awesome if you have solution as perfect as you can get it.:yep:

I just wish my men would cheer;)

[NefariousKoel]

Last night I started a new career on USS Sturgeon out of Cavite.

My first target.. didn't go so well. I fired 2 fish at the Maru from about 1800yds. The first blew up at about halfway to the target. The second (contact det) passed barely aft. I had forgot to update the range/bearing before firing the last of the two. :shifty: Fired 1 more fish and it too exploded prematurely. In frustration I surfaced and shot him all to hell with the deck gun. Good thing he was unarmed.:yep:

My second Maru, same type as the first, was .. interesting. Fired 2 fish.. one blew up prematurely and the other was "a dud sir". Boy, this early war Mark 14 sucks.:p The third fish struck right under the bridge. After getting a good look, he didn't seem to be armed, so I surfaced and finished him off.

My best of the night:
Third encounter was a Shiratsuyu destroyer and a trailing Minesweeper/Subchaser(?).
I targeted the Destroyer and fired 1 fish from a long shot of about 3000 yds - my longest shot so far. Struck under the funnel and exploded in a nice big fireball. Sank in no time. I boogied out of my firing spot since the angry little Minesweeper seemed to have Depth Charges but never got close enough to me. After it gave up looking for me, I surfaced and put some deck gun shells into him at 4400 yds while he was trying to close with me. Poor minesweeper never made it.

Overall my best was hitting a Kongo from ~1200 yds with all 4 forward fish and seeing absolutely massive secondary explosions from a certain one. It went down fast.

[Bilge_Rat]

my best so far was in the "Phillipines Sea" mission, 100% realism.


After spending a long time avoiding the escorts. I finally wound up behind the TF with a stern view of the three carriers moving away.

The last Shokaku class carrier was 2,000 yards away at a bearing of 330 moving away to the left. I had been tracking the TF by periscope and sonar, so I already had a pretty good idea of the speed and the course which allowed me to input the correct AOB.

I fired all six bow tubes, two on the solution, two 1 degrees to the right and two 1 degrees to the left. 5 out of 6 torpedoes hit and the carrier went down. :|\\


partly luck though, my average is usually about 1 in 3 with manual TDC.

[Cakewalk]

About 1200 yards, 100% realism. Most of my TDC inputs are usually guesses, though, so I usually miss unless I'm at that range or under. :(

[AVGWarhawk]

About 1200 yards, 100% realism. Most of my TDC inputs are usually guesses, though, so I usually miss unless I'm at that range or under. :(

Close the gap brother!!!! Get your kill!!!!:up: The closer the better for me also!

[Keelbuster]

About 1200 yards, 100% realism. Most of my TDC inputs are usually guesses, though, so I usually miss unless I'm at that range or under. :(
Close the gap brother!!!! Get your kill!!!!:up: The closer the better for me also!
Aye - I always try to get under 1000m, and ideally fire from 500m. This way if you don't know the speed, even a wild guess will do.

[CCIP]

Yep, closer is better!

Although at below 1km, I generally don't need TDC - I trained in SHIII to do those hip shots by just leading a ship with my scope firing on my scope bearing. In SHIV, I just do it by zeroing out speed and AoB, maxing out the range, and then turning my scope to whatever bearing and clicking the 'send range to TDC' button, which sets me up to fire on that bearing.

Works quite well, too.

[Cakewalk]

I'll try getting closer then.:) I'm just too itchy on the big red torpedo button.:rock:

[Chock]

This is probably one of my best, but I didn't use the TDC, just guessed the lead as the thing was flying right by me at about 30 knots and came out of the rainy darkness, I'd picked it up on hydrophones, but couldn't see it - weather was too rough to even contemplate getting a set up, so I chanced firing all six tubes as straight runners based on a guesstimate from the bow wave, and I was rewarded with five hits! Huge European Liner, gone in about thirty seconds, leaving four destroyer captains with a lot of explaining to do! here's a pic (brightness tweaked in Photoshop, it wasn't anywhere near that clear in the game, except for when a big fireball lit up the surroundings).

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j105/AlanBradbury/Inthebag5.jpg

[Charos]

came out of the rainy darkness, leaving four destroyer captains with a lot of explaining to do!
How did you manage to ID the target before you pulled the trigger?:hmm:

Those destroyer Captains may not have been the only one with explaining to do.:yep:

EDIT ACK Holy mother of ........ What the hell is that avatar <------------- over there, Im a village people person :eek:

[Mechman]

Messed up speed on a 1500 yard shot, ended up blowing the props and rudder off of a patrolling destroyer while trying to sneak into a harbor, without causing any noticable damage to the rest of the ship. Let him stop moving, then a final shot from 90 bearing, set for under keel amidships, and blasted him in two.

[Chock]

Re: ID'ing the target before opening fire - If I'm near the estuary that approaches Tokyo bay four weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor and a ship capable of carrying thousands of troops is heading down towards New Guinea whilst being escorted by four destroyers, I figure they're not on a trip to Disneyland. :D

[Charos]

Re: ID'ing the target before opening fire - If I'm near the estuary that approaches Tokyo bay four weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor and a ship capable of carrying thousands of troops is heading down towards New Guinea whilst being escorted by four destroyers, I figure they're not on a trip to Disneyland. :D

Perhaps but would you do it in real life. :hmm:

Perhaps it was a troop ship or a a hospital ship. Perhaps it was a neutral that had got an escort out of Japan.

Being a Hero or a Villan is a red button press away.

[Payoff]

Yep, closer is better!

Although at below 1km, I generally don't need TDC - I trained in SHIII to do those hip shots by just leading a ship with my scope firing on my scope bearing. In SHIV, I just do it by zeroing out speed and AoB, maxing out the range, and then turning my scope to whatever bearing and clicking the 'send range to TDC' button, which sets me up to fire on that bearing.

Works quite well, too.

:up: Thats the method I use as well. I never bother with the TDC, just ID the target get his speed manually with the stopwatch & shoot. Although some of the erroneous ship lengths can cause a problem.


Charos
How did you manage to ID the target before you pulled the trigger?:hmm:

Those destroyer Captains may not have been the only one with explaining to do.:yep:


I came across an Aussie Merchant in what I thought to be deep in enemy waters in heavy fog. I was setup for the kill, ready to shoot when I thought "I best get a better look at that flag". Went to flank at P/D & had to get less than 300 ft before I could make it out. OOPS. Closed outer doors, lowered Peri and went deep below my unsuspecting ally. I thought that was a nice touch for the sake of realism. :rock:

[Chock]

Despite the fact that SH is in essence a game, the moral issue of what a sub should attack is always an interesting one, and on the subject of me attacking a liner, here goes:

A neutral ship or a hospital ship would probably not be running with all its lights off, besides which, there is a long history of craft on mercy missions having been attacked. I think it's likely that genuinely neutral ships would have made their course known at the early stage in the war when my attack took place. I seriously doubt the IJN would have assigned four destroyers to escort a neutral ship, if not for logistical reasons then for the reason that in doing so, they would make it look like a belligerent.

In a slight aside, Atlantic Convoy rescue ships were often attacked while picking up survivors. To quote Bernard Edward's book 'Donitz and the Wolf Packs':

'Holtring (U604) found the rescue ship Stockport (named after my home town coincidentally) labouring in heavy seas astern of the convoy, returning to her station after picking up survivors from the Empire Trader. The tiny rescue ship, with no one in sight to come to her aid, went to the bottom, taking her crew of 64 and the 91 survivors she had on board with her. There can be no doubt that Holtring was well aware he had a rescue ship in his sights, for although they were not marked, these ships were easily identified by their size and construction (not sure I agree with that statement BTW). In the autumn of 42, Donitz had issued the following order to all U-Boats: There is generally in every convoy a so-called rescue ship, a special ship of up to 3,000 tons appointed to pick up the shipwrecked after U-Boat attack. Most of these are equipped with aircraft and large motor boats and are strongly armed and very manouevrable, so that they have frequently been described by Commanders as U-Boat traps. Their asinking is of great value in regard to the desired destruction of the steamer's crews.'

In that statement, Donitz does greatly overestimate the rescue ship's capabilities (Stockport, for example, was an ex LNER ship, built in 1911 and weighed in at 1,683 tons). Nevertheless, his comment about killing the crews she had rescued is a valid one in wartime, and she could, and doubtless would, use her radios to report U-Boat positions, which made her a legitimate target.

Churchill too, was not averse to issuing orders of a similar nature, notably in the Battle of Britain, when he issued a directive that the red-cross marked seaplanes which picked up downed German flyers in the English Channel should be attacked.

Dudley 'Mush' Morton is of course another famous name that crops up in debates of this nature, having (allegedly) condoned the machine gunning of survivors in lifeboats with the comment in reply to whether they should be rescued of: 'I don't want em! Do You?' Ironically, in that incident, it's widely regarded that many of the survivors he attacked were in fact Indian POWs.

In more modern times, Red Crosses still attract abuse from both sides. During the Viet Nam War, the Viet Cong cheerfully used the Red Crosses on the side of US Army Huey medevac choppers as aiming points. However, these choppers often dropped off ammo to troops on the ride in to pick up wounded in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention, but then again, they also evacuated wounded Viet Cong on occasion too, besides which, I'm fairly sure Viet Nam wasn't a GC signatory.

It's easy to stand at a distance and judge people in wartime, and their decisions, from the comfort of where we are now, but at the end of the day, war is a very nasty business. And simulating war is also likely to simulate that nastiness.