As far as I remember, the reason for long slow turns is that sharp turns at such low speed pretty much bring you to a standstill. But, yes, it is the change of direction that matters.

Like in the filme Das Boot...pressure is every where! :D

Rudder controls
 

Damn, I did wonder why I was having so much trouble with some destroyers - thanks everyone :DL

I am a long-time SH2 player and moving up to SH3 was a bit of an eye opener anyway with the changed commands system - I really missed the old [=5 degrees port rudder, ]=5 degrees starboard rudder way of steering the boat...guess now I have a reason to start using the alternative view of the rudder controls rather than the compass :up:

PS: Can you tell I prefer keyboard commands over using the mouse?

When doing shallow water combat/evasion it changes all the rules. Its easier to get rid of a DD with only 30 m of water than it 100m. Inexperienced or cleverly manipulated ships in water < 20m can be frequently made to blow themselves up from their own dc's. They will fail to accelerate after dropping their charges or if you maneuverd them right will be boxed in/hit another ship making them unable to accelarate after dropping.

Once they finally become available I love the homing torpedoes. Sure the fox tails were the perfect detterent irl; ingame even the first ones you get can be almost 100% lethal. Wait for the moment the DD hits the 300m mark and fire away. It'll try to maneuver out of the way but being so close it's never enough to shake of a homing torpedo once it locks onto the DD's tail.

You can also fire them from high gyro angles. You dont have to worry about the accuracy of the shot, as their homing, as long as they get close, they'll acquire. So you can be 250m, possibly even less, perfectly abeam of each other, and still fire. The extra run time required to make that turn will allow it to arm, and if it misses, it will make another pass, allowing for more time. But just don't sink yourself :damn:. make sure your very very quiet when you fire these.

Sharp turns
 

I know from my experience of helming a sailing yacht :salute:, that when you put the helm "hard over" the sheer speed of the turn generates allot of noise, :nope: so from my perspective, if I AM being chased by a DD I would definitely refrain from turning at such a rate..

LOl yeah.

I used to race FJ's and other small boats. I loved the maneuverability they had, and you could throw it hard over, but you'd lose a lot of speed. But you could throw it over, tack around, grab the tiller and get going again.

Then I borrowed a small catamaran. Yeah, umm.... Hard over in a cat doesn't turn. It just stops. Got whacked in the head a couple times by a luffing boom cause of it. :damn::nope:

Oh 'ECK! OUCH! :timeout::dead:

No, sharp turns in a cat simply doesn't work. It's called the "boom" for a reason.