NEW under ice manual from experiance

[Kapitan]

this is the beggining of a new sort of manual / experiance thing or what ever you call it :D

this is written by me for anyone who plays under ice it details where to go and where not to go and some good and bad places. also tactics and what to do and what makes a good skipper

have a read and feel free to poke pick dig any hole its worth getting it right and worth the read.

cheers.

[Kapitan]

Kapitain's Under ice ops


Introduction to me:

My name is blair i live in england and also russia i am 17 years old and have loved ships and submarines for many years, i am currently studying to
become an officer cadet in the merchant navy and my big dream is to be a captain of a cruise ship or submarine.
I have a large family im the youngest of the boys, of which there are twelve all together and there is also eight girls one of whom is younger than me,
i spend most of my time playing dangerous waters.
i command the nuclear powerd attack submarine Gepard (K335), she is like the one in the above picture, in saying that my main area of oparation
is under the polar ice known as the artic ocean it features some of the most hostile barron and hard to reach area's ever known to man and provides
not only the sub simmers but also the real life personell a navigational challenge for this reason i decided to focus my attention on that one are but wait !
this doesnt mean i just play there i do sometimes venture out into open waters, mainly atlantic and around norway and great britain, and it is here i hunt.
since ive started playing dangerous waters Gepard has compleated over eighty combat patrols and sunk over 300,000 tonnes of ships.

Now many manuals are boring hard on the eye and make good pillows, they bore you to death littraly! this is different this is based on my own personal
experiancies, what ive learnt, what ive gained, and some useful tips and tactics.
many people say to me and i get this nearly every day "your to young to know and understand" ok fair enough if you want to belive that go ahead but why
do you insit on asking me questions? i tell you why because im one of very few people who can go to a russian naval base and see for myself what ships,
subs, facilitys they have restricted heavily of course, but ive still been there ive spoken to many people who work on the subs ships and at the bases,
ive been on the ships sub and bases and yet they say i dont know i have a better understanding of it than most people think.

anyways thats roughly me if there is any questions then please email me at blairshaw(at)btopenworld.com

Where and what is the artic ocean ?

The artic ocean is a large expance of water and ice covering the top of the planet, the ocean itself is mainly coverd with ice most of the year round and it is
impossible to map due to the ice shifting all the time, however the good news to submarine captains is this: it provides perfect cover no satalite, plane or
helicopter can see or detect you and ships cant realy follow you only the ice breakers and they are few and far between! but a frigate or destroyer has no
hope of getting you which is good news al round right ? wrong of course thers a snag! another submarine can follow you, few nations have submarines but
those who do have them use them wisely russia , america , great britain and france all deploy or have deployed nuclear submarines at some point under the
ice.
before the nuclear submarines the artic ocean was a no go area but when nautilus went down the slipway that changed the artic ocean was no accessible and
it wasnt long before vritain and russia did the same.

My main area of oparation is here under the ice why? because it provides me with the purfect cover i only have to worry about one thing and thats another submarine!

A good skipper knows his boat inside out my boat has always been Gepard right back when sub command came out she was the only submarine i ever commanded
the Akula class or project 971 are specificly designed for under ice missions and are designed with quietness in mind, so under the ice where the background noise is constantly loud the submarine can not be detected easily.

the artic ocean was the last un explored part of the planet not much was known in the early stages but as time went on more and more was lernt and discoverd, what ive learnt in the last few years of playing such games is this "the artic ocean cannot be fought against" you can work with it but fight against it your sure to loose, but if you use it wisely then it can help you alot!

Whats it like under the ice?

Its like being at sea like being in the atlantic only instead of nice clear water and poping up when you feel like it the twist is theres a brick wall covering the surface so you locked in or are you?
no your not if you go shallow 35 meters and stop then ring down surface you can penatrate most ice layers without problem, but if you go full speed on an emergency blow straight into it then stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass good bye cause you wont win against it like that.

I find the ice personaly rather calm and soothing it has its tense moments it has its relaxed moments its a good mix, but it take balls to run very shallow and fast as you know there are ice burgs out there that are over 5,000 years old just waiting for you to hit it and thats the end, ive seen bergs go down to 600 feet ok not a major problem if seen but if you miss calculate or hit one then your realy nakerd (little tip start thinking what your going to say to the admirals if you get home).

The ice can be used as a skippers best tool, but being down right stupid it can become a skippers nightmare. ive done stupid things under the ice but ive learnt from them if you cant learn from mistakes dont bother coming under ice!
the worst mistake i made under ice was running shallow in real shallow water knowing i could have gone to deeper water and it would have taken more time but i would have got through, so when the shallow water turned to sea bed i had to reverse back about 20 miles then go into deep water.
stupid mistake but one that could have sunk me !

But seriously most skippers are scared to run shallow and fast because of the contours of the ice and they are frightend that they will sink thier boats, but if you have brains and alot of planning and get to know the region then its just fine.

Some useful tips

here it goes some tips for you guys:

never try to think that you will win against the sea or ice
never think your the best cause blatently there are people out there better but yet provoke fear to the rivals so they think your the best
know your boat inside out its weapons and capibilitys and also your common enamys subs and weapons too
when running shallow never go above 12 knots because the HF sonar cant realy keep up and thats the window you need to see ice and dodge it
never think that the periscope is useless under ice it does come in handy for slow tracking (make sure its set to night vision)
dont ever be cocky it will only cost you dearly
keep calm and have a cool head if you dont the enamy can see this in the way you command
never have a routine as your moves can be predicted having a routine is the enamys best friend
always think you have the advantage keeping that in mind will set you up and keep you calm you may not have the best sub but you can still win
if you want to break up a sonar track or your being followed find a large iceburg and go shallow just after it 9/10 the enamy will follow and run straight into it
know where you are even if your no where near a map the artic ocean has few navigation points so know where you are
always take your time and go at a pace comftable to you if it dont feel safe or right dont do it
keep a close eye on the HF sonar come to it every 3 minuets or so just to make sure you clear of any burgs

What i do

Well in this summary i can say not alot most of my tonnage is gained in open ocean in places like the norwiegen sea and bearents sea, i rarely venture into open ocean that is mid atlantic ect but i have done on few occasions including the mediteranean and indian ocean.
As i said i spen 90% of my time under ice and basicaly all i do is track other submarines, some good tips for tracking enamy or potential enamy submarines is this:

stay with in about 2 miles of the contact as they cannot fire on you
stay behind them and keep a very close eye on what they do
never go over the top or underneath them cause you never know if they going to go shallow or deep
forward plan some moves like if he does this il counter by doing this
make sure your tubes are flooded and equalised because if you want to attack you slow down and then you got a perfect line of fire
never under estimate your enamy even if his submarine looks like its from world war one cause generaly he might have a better head for tactics than you

some little bits that can help you.

when under the ice i dont often travel very fast i have no good reason to if your relaxed and patcient then you will find the enamy comes to you if your up tight and and in patiencet yeah the enamy will come to you but normaly blow the submarine out of the water.
i normaly stick around at 35 meters at a speed of four to eight knots unless im in track and the contact is traveling faster.

The region

In the artic there are many regions and ajoining seas, get used to knowing where you are it helps alot, if i said to you now im on the lomonosov ridge you probly think where the f**k is that knowing where you are is important if your enamy doesnt know the area then you have the advantage. some maps i have included explaining some areas that are no go areas and some that are simply the best here goes.


This map is great for showing where to go and where not to go!

on the top of russia you see the kara sea this is a definate no go zone its very shallow and thick with ice and at one point it makes it impossible to cross through however the top part of the kara sea is acessible but still shallow same with the laptev sea and beaufort sea.

if your very brave then try the canadian archipelago not overly deep but tricky to navigate and takes the meaning of balls to another level if you can navigate that then you can navigate any where including the atlantic pacific via bearing straight, which is very shallow and iced right over even in summer.

the bottom part of novaya zemlya is also very tricky to navigate but it can be done if you take your time.

greenland and canadian gap provide excelent straights in which to run at high speed and coves where you can hide making a big big sub such as a boomer think twice about following you (as if it would) but it does stop some types of submarines ie diesels and the oscar class.



main areas note the names this will help you in multiplayer, if you and your partner has got this map then you can arrange to meet in certain areas and ambush the enamy cause 7/10 they havnt got this map, these maps are just from the internet but are very useful in terms of getting to know the region.

Tactics

i dont fancy shareing to many of my tactics because id be able to be defeated in a multiplayer game easily but heres a few.

The world renowned crazy ivan

yes i do do these its a very basic monover which could either give you a lot of info or just simply kill you, the idea is to find out if any one is behind you first of all your traveling along normaly then you start slowing down rapidly, you wait for a while then pick up speed sharply to about 24 knots then turn 180* anything in the way is generaly run down or moves thus giving its possition away, however they dont always do this and its not a good monover if you want to stay undetected.

The wild ride

a tactic i developed to tire out the trailing submarine basicaly you just go up down up down fast slow fast slow and when you think your enamy isnt expecting it break off at high speed if its a 688I then you have no problems out running it but it takes alot of time however if its a seawolf just dont do this tactic

for more tactics please consult bill nichols site at www.subguru.com the book is called the seawolves blue book of submarine oparations.

The best of the best

In the moskoyo flota (northern fleet) prizes are awarded to the best ships in the fleet most notible of these is kursk and tula each year a submarine is awarded this.

so whats stoping you being subsims best of the best ? nothing what so ever in mp mode make compatitions best skipper of the year or month then see who has got the balls to take on the best.

well in my game im the best because i have the best sub and best crew and best weapons if you think that you will go far start saying oh well he can go faster deeper ect you will loose the adrenalin rush and cause you to lack certain judgement which is not good when fighting a seawolf or 688I.

Surfaceing under ice ?

theres only one way to do this and that is to go shallow and stop then surface, if you do an E blow at speed or even at slow speed you risk damaging or even sinking your submarine the ice is like a concreate wall it can only be conquored via one means and that is take your time.
when surfaceing do not raise any masts they will be broken and the towed array must be stowed too.

What will i encounter?

under ice the two main risks are ice burgs and other submarines so the need for the ESM radar periscope radio and that are all gone, well no i use the periscope at slow speeds to get sneaky snaps of subs when close up im usualy 4 knots or slower (otherwise id be seeing blue).
the only other thing thats under ice and not realy a threat is biological contacts ie whales and stuff if your attacking make sure the torpedo doesnt lock on to the whale makes a mess and green peace dont like it !

surface ships and aircraft are no problem to you what so ever they cannot attack you nor in heavy ice even keep up with you but on the ice canopy (edges) ships can still be a big threat and so can aircraft.

How to attack and how to evade

staying slow and shallow normaly means very hard to be detected, but still isnt 100% fool proof the key is detect him before he detects you and thus eliminating him if needed.
attacking under ice is no diffrent to attacking in blue water only diffrence is your attacking submarines rather than surface ships and in doing that gaining valuble experiance in sub v sub environment just dont run your torpedos to shallow and missiles dont realy work to well under ice.

evading is much more difficault see the tactics section as it give in detail the monovers but also be aware of ice burgs and the fact your sonar at speed doesnt realy work to well so be careful.

what makes a good skipper?

a good skipper must have these qualities

know there boat
know each and every weapon capibilitys
know what the enamy is capible of
be able to keep calm even in the worst situation immaginable
not to lapse for one second (lapsing can cause a mistake wich can lead to destruction of your vessel)
be pacient wait for contact rather than go head long bull in a china shop at them
make sure you have a good fix and fire first
always keep in mind your sub crew weapons and everything else is the best even if in theroy its not
stay alert and stay safe

summary

there is always going to be bits added to this and always going to be of some use to some one now in the end if you follow stay shallow stay slow you should be ok in the akula the seawolf and 688I the same rule applys ive caught many of these subs off gaurd, remember if you make a mistake some one will pick it up hunt you down and destroy you. stay alert stay awake be careful be patcient and youl do just fine



PLEASE NOTE PICTURES ARE YET TO BE UPLOADED

[Bellman]

:) Thanks K. :up:

I hope you will extend some themes in the next part - perhaps outlining how you maintain stealth
near the surface whilst using HF sonar to track and avoid icebergs.

Not having operated in icy conditions I am interested in the limits it imposes on sensors.

I shall look forward to you developing some further topics.

A good start. :yep:

[Kapitan]

cheers
:up:

[Bill Nichols]

I would be very happy to host this at my site, when you're done.

:up:

[Kapitan]

thanks bill :up:

[Sea Demon]

Can't wait to see the final product. ;) Nice, Kapitain. :up:

[Kapitan]

thank god for subsim my pc went down last night and ive lost everything and i mean everything i back up everything once a week (files ect) and save them to disk but that happens on a thursday so i havnt had chance if it wasnt for subsim id be starting from scratch.

[Kapitan]

what else can i add please suggestions i am stuck

[Bellman]

PM on the way
today
K.

:roll: