My hydrophone operator is not pulling his weight...

[Halifax40]

What I've always found interesting was.. as far as I know the hydrophone cannot do a 360 degree arch of search. It's clearly represented in the game when the hydrophone operator is doing a normal sweep (I like to watch him do it in the F9 area, makes me feel like the capt'in) and he skips the area of the back of the boat and will not report any contact behind the boat even when all stop. Yet, if you do it manually and go all machines stop, you can find contacts directly behind and around bearing 180 (the entire 360 arch actually). The initial setup was the default microphones in the area are the foreplanes, then the KDB (sp?) was another addition added onto the deck of the boat, adding more arch range if I'm not mistaken - I think the exact arch is of a 160 degree. Remember the scene in Das Boot? "FAST SCREWS BEARING 180". I need a hydrophone operator like THAT. :|\ To find contacts in that 30 degree or so arch aft of the boat, do you always have to find the sound yourself? It's really frustrating having to always go back to it manually to find the contact when it's around my 6.

[MonkeyHero]

I've found that if I set my sonarman to track nearest sound or warship sound contact he'll always lose things around 180 bearing. However if I manually take control of the hydrophones and keep them pointed back there and track the target myself the sonarman will continue to give me updates on the targets bearing, speed, and movement in relation to me.

I like to listen myself so I can hear when a DD starts its attack run, but the sonarman is nice to have because I can't tell whether a ship is coming toward me or moving away.

[Sawdust]

I've found that the Hydrophone Operator will find contacts at 180° when the engines are off. The animation of him searching, though, still shows him skipping past the aft section of the boat.

On occasion, though, he seems to miss a boat that I know is there (from previous sighting). When I check the hydrophone myself, the sound is clearly audible, but the vessel type is "Unknown". It seems the Operator won't mention contacts that he hasn't figured out are either Merchant or Warship.

[Captain U-96]

I've found that the Hydrophone Operator will find contacts at 180° when the engines are off. The animation of him searching, though, still shows him skipping past the aft section of the boat.

On occasion, though, he seems to miss a boat that I know is there (from previous sighting). When I check the hydrophone myself, the sound is clearly audible, but the vessel type is "Unknown". It seems the Operator won't mention contacts that he hasn't figured out are either Merchant or Warship.

I've had the same problem, and have become use to checking it out myself. Also, I will either go hard to port or starbord, at ahead standard, then all stop. I have found this to work and is comforting to know someone isn't sneaking up my hawse pipe!