Firing Torpedoes

[ancient46]

I have been reading a lot of patrol reports lately and I am wondering if the skippers that rack up large game tonnage totals are not firing like the WW2 skippers did. I am seeing a lot of reports of firing all the bow or stern tubes at a single target. Doing that in the game and 20,000 tons would be a very successful patrol.

So I am wondering how many torpedoes Subsim skippers fire at a target? I send a salvo of 4 at each target to allow for the target slowing or turning when they detect a wake, to get a sinking.

[Admiral8Q]

I will fire two or three at one target.

[Bubblehead1980]

Depends on the size and thus value of a target.


First of all, for me it depends on the date.If before mid 1943, I fire alot, small merchant or tanker gets at least two, mid or large gets four due to high rate of duds and premature explosions.

Second, depends on the size and thus value of a target.The small merchants 1-2 torpedos, placed at different spots.

Medium Merchants- usually 3 torpedos for good measure.

Large Merchant/Tanker or Troop ship 4 torpedos.

Large target like Conte Verde Liner, carrier, battleship etc, every torpedo I can until shes sinking.Usually an intitial salvo of 6 from bow tubes, if cant do the job, will use sterns.

I also aim the shots to hit vital places on target.For example

A mid sized merchant, classic 90 degree shot, I place the wire at bearing zero, when the middle of the ship, where the stack is usually at, I place the fire there and hit "send bearing to TDC" button, then immediately fire.I then place the wire forward behind the forward mast where a cargo hold usually is, wait 10 seconds, send bearing and fire, place wire just ahead of the bridge structure...wait 10 seconds, fire 3.

If calm seas I set the torpedo going to hit under the stack amidships to 3 feet, minimum depth you can set, it hits at water line, helps blow the boiler up and flood them real nice.Set others for different depths.

Tankers weak point is to hit them under their stack which is aft with a fish set for 8-10 feet, cant take down even the 10k ton tanker Nippon Maru with one fish if you hit it right under the stack, plus it destroys its engines and goes dead in water.

[WernherVonTrapp]

During the early years of the war, I was lucky to get a total of 20k tons sunk at the end of a patrol. Usually, it was more like 11k to 18k. Now, I'm in late 1944. I usually fire 2 torps at standard merchant vessels (under 9k tons) and 3 torps for larger merchants (over 9k tons). Battleships (for me), usually take 3 to 4 torps aimed at vital compartments. Kongos I can usually down with 3 in this manner. If it doesn't sink outright, I slink away and put a 4th in her via long range (she's usually dead in the water after 3). Ises and Fusos are definitely 4 torps. Most of the carriers have only taken 2 torps to sink though I have had occasion to put a 3rd into the largest ones to finish them off. With the exception of the Mogami (split between 2/3 torps), I've always been successful with just 2 torps on Heavy/Light Cruisers.

[Armistead]

Depends on how confident I am of my shot. I like shooting 2 at merchants.
If within 1000 yards and things look good, two usually works. Capital ships, 4-6, I want to stop it or sink it.

My goal with merchants is to get them dead on the water and finish them off with the Deckgun when the area clears.