Radar Uses???

[Kirk]

Hey all. Me again. Being never on a sub I was wondering when does a submarine use its radar? I know or have read that it can give away its possition but if you are looking for a surface contact is it common to use radar to get an idea on bearing? Oh! If radar is not used what other ways of locating a target. You know he/she is out there but not sure where. Is there a search pattern that subs use to search? Any ideas are thankful. Cya.

[DivingWind]

Radar on sub basically is used only on exit/enter from harbor.In open ocean it isnt used very often ,because (maybe) it is pretty weak compared to surface ships.

[Linton]

I believe the USN use a cots one as the naval one has a very specific signature.(cots=commercial off the shelf)

[Wildcat]

Yep.. most submarines have a civilian radar that they use for entering and exiting harbors and such. Using the sub's actual radar would be pretty stupid, every single ELINT operator within 100 miles would know that sub is coming or going, and they'd have a radar footprint to use for ID from that time on..

[MaHuJa]

In the context of DW, I occasionally use the sub radars a bit. It's usually in situations where I do not see the enemy being able to use the information gleaned from ESM to attack me - not quite putting my sail above water, anti-ship missiles can't touch me, and there's nothing to stick torpedoes near me either.

It's very useful for the terminal guidance of a torpedo almost at its target, for example. Or other things requiring a distance. Or quickly determining which contacts are ships (and which are then probably subs)

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Personally, I use it a lot. The AI isn't quite as sharp as a real crew will be, so you can often get away with using a couple of sweeps to get ranges.

[SeaQueen]

Hey all. Me again. Being never on a sub I was wondering when does a submarine use its radar? I know or have read that it can give away its possition but if you are looking for a surface contact is it common to use radar to get an idea on bearing? Oh! If radar is not used what other ways of locating a target. You know he/she is out there but not sure where. Is there a search pattern that subs use to search? Any ideas are thankful. Cya.

For a short time after WWII, they talked about using submarines as radar pickets. I'm not sure I understand the kinds of tactics they were thinking about, but I always thought the idea was interesting.

[Bellman]

The quick couple of sweeps 'was' useful in SC MP sub v sub to filter.

Much riskier in DW where the designer can trap ! Still in a multi-contact environment with a lot of spaghetti
on the screen it certainly can be a calculated risk worth taking.

[timmyg00]

For a short time after WWII, they talked about using submarines as radar pickets. I'm not sure I understand the kinds of tactics they were thinking about, but I always thought the idea was interesting. They didn't just talk about it... they did it! Back in the late 1940s there were several conversions of U.S. fleet boats to radar pickets under Project Migraine. USS Sailfish SSR-572 and USS Salmon SSR-573 were the first purpose-built radar picket submarines, and USS Triton was the first and only U.S. nuclear sub to be built for the purpose.

The purpose and tactics of such ships was just as the name implies; they were the "forward observers" and used their radars to gain information about enemy movements and numbers, mostly for air defense and surface defense.

In the early 1960s, radar picket operations were superseded by airborne early warning systems, and these units were converted back to attack boats, although some lived on in support and research roles.

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/n87/usw/issue_14/coldwar.html
http://www.geocities.com/uss_requin/history2.htm
http://guppysubmarinetribute.homestead.com/Migraine.html

TG

[Sea Demon]

Personally, I use it a lot. The AI isn't quite as sharp as a real crew will be, so you can often get away with using a couple of sweeps to get ranges.

I don't use it very often. But If I'm loading 6 of my 8 tubes on my Seawolf with Harpoons to prosecute a surface target, radar provides a quick way of determining range setting for my missiles very quickly. On the flip side, the enemy ship now knows something may be coming his way.

I usually find torpedo attacks as most effective as a result.