Merchant spots my periscope at 5000 meters?!

[Schwuppes]

Oh hi!


Well I had intercepted a medium cargo, weather was good, 2 meter winds, 10km visibilty, only light cloud and it was 4 o clock in the afternoon...

I was approaching for the kill submerged at 6 knots and had my periscope up... I was just about to take some new measurements to see if I had to corect my course/attack plan when I see that he starts zig zagging.... OMG I thought, how is this possible that a merchant spots my periscope from around 5 kilometers... a destroyer...yes, but not a pesky merchant... I felt like an idiot... lol
How am I supposed to gather the data for plotting and attack etc?!

I know GWX has improved enemy AI which is awesome and I'm not bashing... but is this realistic?

[Yoriyn]

Maybe he spot you before you dive.

[Schwuppes]

Hi Yoriyn!

I'm quite sure he wasn't zig zagging before I submerged....

[Yoriyn]

Maybe when you start diving. In good weather the merchant spot me in good weather from long distance (I use type IIB).
Second thing, i only rise periscope max. 1m above water level.
Sometimes when you stop submerged your u-boot going up 2-3 m, and your conning tower is visible.

[JG10r_Bull]

how high was your periscope out of the water i try not to have a wake of water from the Scope and that's real good weather too I have had ships spot my scope from around 3km but not 5 but not that big of a deal just keep your attack line and run mag shot under him it's the right weather 4 it :yep:

[Uncle Goose]

Oh hi!


Well I had intercepted a medium cargo, weather was good, 2 meter winds, 10km visibilty, only light cloud and it was 4 o clock in the afternoon...

I was approaching for the kill submerged at 6 knots and had my periscope up... I was just about to take some new measurements to see if I had to corect my course/attack plan when I see that he starts zig zagging.... OMG I thought, how is this possible that a merchant spots my periscope from around 5 kilometers... a destroyer...yes, but not a pesky merchant... I felt like an idiot... lol
How am I supposed to gather the data for plotting and attack etc?!

I know GWX has improved enemy AI which is awesome and I'm not bashing... but is this realistic?


Why shouldn't this be possible?? Merchants also had a watchcrew and are higher than a destroyer, so with good bino's they could spot you just as much (or even more) as a destroyer.

[melnibonian]

Don't forget that in GWX Merchants can zig-zag even if they don't spot you. It was a standard procedure during the war for all merchants to zig-zag from time to time to avoid U-Boat attacks.

[Abd_von_Mumit]

I bet it wasn't the very periscope that was spotted, but ITS WAKE - at 6 knots it's like a small motorboat leaving trace on the water. It's been said repeatedly not to raise your periscope if travelling faster than 2 knots. :D

[TomcatMVD]

I bet it wasn't the very periscope that was spotted, but ITS WAKE - at 6 knots it's like a small motorboat leaving trace on the water. It's been said repeatedly not to raise your periscope if travelling faster than 2 knots. :D
I agree:yep:
Commanders' handbook tells you not to raise your scope when going faster than 4knts, but then... they didn't use GWX when they wrote the handbook:D

[bruschi sauro]

.........SURE IS THE WAKE OF PERISCOPE....6 KNOTS, BRRRR.......:yep:

[papa_smurf]

I bet it wasn't the very periscope that was spotted, but ITS WAKE - at 6 knots it's like a small motorboat leaving trace on the water. It's been said repeatedly not to raise your periscope if travelling faster than 2 knots. :D

I agree with that, I only travel at 2-3 knts when my periscope is up.

[Jimbuna]

The wake is a more easily spotted target than the head of a periscope.

A sure sign you've been spotted is when they commence zig zagging.

Remember, there have been random waypoints inserted into GWX2.0.

[Albrecht Von Hesse]

I have to agree with the others: I highly doubt that the periscope was, itself, spotted, as much as 1) it's feather (the spray kicked up, much like a bow wave) and 2) the wake it was leaving behind.

You very very rarely see any straight lines in nature. The weather was good and still quite a bit of daylight. With only 2 meter winds the sea was quite calm. Depending on how long you had the scope up you were likely kicking up and leaving quite a long, straight wake, especially at 6 knots. The merchie crew might not know exactly what they'd seen, or known for sure it was a U-boat. But zigzagging for half an hour beats just dumbly stooging along in a straight line and risk becoming easy meat.

Best thing to do under those circumstances is drop your speed to ahead slow or all stop, wait until you slow or stop, then raise your scope and take your bearings, ranges, speeds, etc. Then lower the scope and speed up again. That way you won't be spotted as easily.

[Sailor Steve]

One question hasn't been asked: how long did you leave your periscope up? The longer it's visible, the better chance that they'll see it.

[Schwuppes]

Hi guys!

Thnks for your replies, yes after a while of thinking it dawned on me too that it was probably the wake of my periscope that gave me away....

I will follow your advice and stick to 2 or 3 knots when using it....

[TarJak]

As an alternative if you are in need of speed whilst submerged then only poke up the scope for 10 secs or less. Any more and the chances are they will spot the scope wake. Also don't poke it all the way up, just get the head to pop out just above sea level to reduce the time a wake has to form.