Correct.


It's more difficult to hit targets far away only because their length becomes a smaller angle the further away they are. If you measured the speed wrong, a ridiculous AOB or set a completely wrong range correction incase gyro angle was not 0 or 180 degrees, this determines how wrong the lead is. Your (Paul Riley) plots over 30min or so would seem to be reliable, assuming it is an average over the first and last plots. Comparing the distance between adjacent plots by moving a cirlce doesn't help. That's just as accurate as between just two plots. Assuming 7 knots is correct, the lead would be either 9.2 or 13.5 degrees for the different torpedo speeds (resp. 44 and 30), a difference of about 4.3 degrees. This 4.3 degrees is 75 meters wide per kilometer of distance. At your range the torpedos were about 45 meters behind what you intended to fire at. Midship, or aimed at prop/rudder? Because a most common shiplength is 78.5 meters. All theoretically speaking ofcourse! Does that conform to what you experienced?

It makes perfect sense Pisces,yes,thanks.
Thanks to both of you for your help here,and I am taking careful notes as we speak.Everything is becoming ever more clearer now,the more I actually understand how the torpedo operates,or more accurately how the TDC prepares the torpedo for firing.
Thats all for now.
I will let you know what happens in any upcoming engagements I may have over the next day or so...or so I hope.

I forgot,the shot that missed passed by a cat's whisker of the ship's screws,at least it was that close on the torpedo solution screen.The miss was VERY close.

:up:

Hmm. You learn something new every day!

I never use the electrics in the first 12 months of the war. The early ones have serious reliability issues. I've watched the thing's bounce off targets without detonating on perfect 90 degree AOB shots, or suddenly dive UNDER ships at the last moment, (I did a patrol with event camera on to find out why I kept missing, and found I wasn't, it was just the torpedoes failing) anything but actually work. By December 1940 though T2s seem to be mostly reliable. I still prefer the T1 steamers though, they still seem to have a lot fewer duds than the electrics. I only use electrics in the day time with calm weather when a steamer would be too visable.

Yes early Electric aal do have problem with being dud.I myself have seen 90degrees hit bouncing off and if there is anything more annoying that near misses it is failure to detonate on hit :damn:

You can only get a 90-AOB 0-gyro "dud" in SH3 by setting the depth wrong and having it bounce off the underside of the hull. Unlike IRL, the game engine guarantees a detonation when a torp strikes a hull at a normal angle (i.e. horizontally perpendicular and vertically perpendicular).

Well this one did, I watched it on event camera. Fired from 900m the thing actually deflected downwards, clipped THROUGH the edge of the hull before vanishing down into the depths. Definite :o moment!

Sure do :know:

Sorted my problems out now,everything is in order again (check my 'optimum firing angles' post)

:D