Pattern-running torpedoes

[BasilY]

Late in the war, I was issued pattern runners. Since I do most of my kills in ranges less than 1500m, I just used them as regular torps and never bother with their pattern settings. Once in a while a pattern-runner will miss my primary target and, by luck, hit another ship.

I was just wondering, if any of you out there has master these pattern runners against convoys? What are the better settings in your experience? All comments and suggestions welcomed.

[fw66]

They're useful if you want to avoid escorts as much as possible. Launch a salvo of them ahead of a convoy, so that their ladder pattern runs perpendicular to the convoy's heading (so if the ships were heading east, the torpedo would make runs going north/south for example). The aim is to have the ships sail into an area covered by torpedoes running their search patterns. It's not 100% effective, but can produce good results and you don't need to target individual ships; meantime you can get some depth, reload in safety and come to periscope depth once the convoy's passed to pick off any damaged stragglers.