Patrolling

[jasond2350]

Hey guys. I have been searching everywhere and can't find anything about patrolling tactics. I'm curious what the best method for finding merchants is. How do you guys patrol in career mode? I stay surfaced during the day and submerged at night. The only time I submerge during the day is when the weather conditions are bad. When I'm submerged I check the hydrophone every two hours. With this tactic, I'm still having trouble finding contacts. Am I doing something wrong? I would love to hear from some experienced skippers' input. How do you guys patrol?

[fireftr18]

This is how I do it.
I get in the patrol area and find a spot that looks like it would have heavier traffic. I go there and stop, go to time compression. TC varies according the situation, but for me, normally it's the 2000x. Then I just sit and wait. I also keep an eye on the watch. During TC, when something comes within sensor range of your boat, it will create a computer lag and that can be seen on the watch. The higher TC, the more noticeable. 2000x seems a good compromise. When you have an S-class, then you need to submerge for the passive sonar to work.

[jasond2350]

Thank you. I will give that a try.

[HertogJan]

... I stay surfaced during the day and submerged at night. The only time I submerge during the day is when the weather conditions are bad. When I'm submerged I check the hydrophone every two hours. With this tactic, I'm still having trouble finding contacts. Am I doing something wrong? I would love to hear from some experienced skippers' input. How do you guys patrol?

I'd reverse day and night, stay submerged during day time and surface during night time... This to avoid Air patrols.

I'm using TMO and RSRDC when on patrol I take a good look at the convoy routes (attached to the radio) and redraw the part needed on the Nav. Map and patrol that part up and down.
When I get the order to patrol a area of choice I tend to sail 20Nm to 30Nm out all along the coast of choice.

Using TC to find a vessel is a cheat but can't be helped, I use it as well but only go up to 512x TC.

Side note:
When using TC press backspace and wait for 10sec. before going to 1x otherwise the ocean might still be warping

[TorpX]

I stay surfaced during the day and submerged at night. The only time I submerge during the day is when the weather conditions are bad.

Gawd!
I hope that's a typo. The idea is usually to submerge during the day to avoid nasty DD's and aircraft. If there are few, you can remain surfaced all the time. It really depends on where, when, and whatnot. If you don't need to hide from anything, you needn't submerge (recharging the battery uses a lot of fuel).
Also, I should point out, that you needn't cruise all the time. On the surface, one can sit still and wait for targets to come to you, economically. I often do this.

[If you have a real interest in this, I would recommend reading WAHOO, and CLEAR THE BRIDGE, by Richard H. O'Kane.]

[Pisces]

Your hydrophone is your best sensor (if you listen yourself), perhaps matched by radar if you have it, compared to visual observation. So I would check it every now and then. But not constant, since visitors don't really drop by every minute of the day. And if they do, it takes a while for them to leave your hydrophone coverage again. Plenty of chances to notice them in between if you check every couple of hours.

That said, the pacific or most other waters in the theatre are a big place. You really would want to be on a traffic lane, or at a chokepoint along it, to meet someone. Depending on how wide you think it is, it might be prudent to go back and forth across it. Or weave back and forth along it. But even then there is a low chance in the day that you'll meet someone. It's an exercise in boredom whatever way you look at it.

[Snarf]

Look at the island chains on the map, the convoy routes usually hug to within a couple hundred NM of the islands. From Tokyo directly south to about Rabaul I believe is called the Tokyo Express. From the Japanese coast along the Ryukus to Formosa is another heavy traffic route. Also choke points like near Rabaul, Formosa Strait, Bungo Strait, Tsushima Strait (pretty much anywhere strait), at the entrances to the Sulu and Celebes seas, near Guam, Saipan, Truk, Wake. Usually if there is a lot of water around you with no land, you wont find much. More air patrols by day = more chance of convoy, if you find you can stay surfaced in the day you will never find a convoy in that area. Many Japanese convoys travelled by day hugging the coastlines, then moored in a shallow area at night,