Speed of ranging with Sonar...

[DemonTraitor]

I have noticed that ranging targets by manually pinging them can takes ages depending on how far away the target is, but if you ask the sonar operator to do it, he takes a fraction of the time...

I have just "pinged" a warship I am tracking, and it took 23 seconds to return - when I sent the range to TDC it reported the range was 18,000+ yards.

While I was on the bridge, I asked the sonar man to tracker and report the target, and then give me a range. He came back with the result in 3 seconds, with the same range!

Talk about the sonar-man bending the laws of physics! Does this mean he can boil eggs in 30 seconds too?

:-?

[SteamWake]

According to the wiki


In salt water that is free of air bubbles or suspended sediment, sound travels at about 1500 m/sIn salt water that is free of air bubbles or suspended sediment, sound travels at about 1500 m/s


Simple math from there but 23 seconds? :hmm:

[Pisces]

Yes, I calculated a second less even. 18000 yds * 2 (return) * 0.9144 (meters/yard) = 32918.4 meters.

At 1500 m/s through seawater it takes 32918.4/1500= 21.9 seconds

But that 3 second sonar guy must be clairvoyant.

[Sailor Steve]

That hearkens back to the SH3 conundrum: in reality the 1WO, or XO to the Americans, assisted the captain with the math and plotting, and in SH3 you can use Weapons Officer assistance, the only problem being that his is psychic, brilliant and preternaturally fast; he gives every solution instantly and is never wrong.

So you can use the guy and know the impossible, or do it yourself, which the captain never did.

One more thing we hope they'll consult us on when they make the next big subsim. Are you keeping notes?
:rotfl:

[Takeda Shingen]

Coming from nuke sims, I try to 'radiate' as little as possible, so this leaves any type of active sonar out of the question. That being said, the XO assistance is ridiculously perfect. It's one thing that SC and DW did so well: They built error into the AI assistance. Your solutions were never perfect.

[DemonTraitor]

Well, you can guess what option I will be using in future :)

1, 2, 3... "range... :yep: