3 minute 15 rule

[orangewhale]

Hi all

I recently consulted wazoos manual targeting tutorial and read through the entire thing excluding the wheel manual targeting section in favour of fast 90 basic and advanced methods. The purpose of this post is to ask this question

Is there a faster method of determining course and speed rather than using the 3 minute 15 second rule? - I know I have used the nomograph to determine speed in one minute accurately but what about the targets course in less than that time because by the time you wait 3 min 15 a destroyer can locate you or a target pass you by. BTW you can hit the target if you calculate course in 1 minute too but the torpedoe seems to take 15 seconds longer or more to hit the target

[Grey Area]

Well, course is not dependant on waiting 3:15, you can make your second mark at anytime but the longer you wait the more accurate your result.

3:15 is plenty of time to get a speed, on a convoy or merchant I can usually get off 3 or 4 marks at 3:15.

What I normally do is get a rough idea of their heading at initial contact, and then get as near as dammit on their track at ~500m out while all the time refining my heading for that 90 of the bow shot.

If the vessel is really travelling that fast, maybe it's too fast for a shot anyway and you'd likely miss. Unless you use a homer.

I'm not elite, although I play at near 100% realism.

EDIT: Just thought, if you're targets moving are you moving as well when making you're marks? Wazoo does go through it, if you're travelling in the same direction at almost the same speed then closure is near zero for you to make lots of nice little marks.

[Sawdust]

I always halve the 3:15 time period and it works well. Simply take your second observation of the target ship at 1:37 (1 minute, 37 seconds) and then double the result. ;)