How often...

[furby]

do you listen on the hydrophone?...say you have reached your patrol area...you have set your search pattern...how often should i be diving and listening?

at the moment im checking every 4-5 hours.

Also when traveling to the patrol area how often do you check?

cheers

[raymond6751]

It depends on how eager you are and what the weather is, night/day.

The hydrophone can detect ships up to, say 60 nm away, I have read. Now, if you consider that and the speed of a target, averaged, you might have an idea of how often.

Suppose we use 10 knot speed as the average. You don't want the target to get right on top of you before detection, so let's say you would like to know his approach with 2 hours notice. That would be every 4 hours. If he were just outside of the maximum detection range when you surface, four hours later he would be 40 nm closer.

That is assuming he is coming right at you. If he is going on a diagonal, you will likely have more time to track the target.

At night or in bad weather, you have to consider the visibility factor. You and your crew cannot see very far. The only reason to be on the surface is to charge batteries and make speed. If you are hunting, get below often.