Yes, actually there is no point using the snorkel late in the war, since the late enemy radars will see it as clearly as if you were surfaced. The best thing to do is to go on the surface and let the radar detector do it's job (and not use the radar). When it detects radar signals, you can go down and scan with the hydrophones. If you don't hear a ship, it's plane.

But remember to use Jungman's SensorPak mod to get a more effective radar detector. This is from the readme:

Sensorpak please
 

Any chance of a link to Jungmans Sensorpak please.
Been going nuts looking for it. Most likely under my nose.

Salute

Re: Sensorpak please
 

Yes, it is quite hard to find. Here is my reply to the very same question in another thread recently:

I sent a PM to Jungman earlier today to ask if he would consider creating a thread in the mods forum dedicated to his SensorPak. It would be so much easier to direct people to it then... :ping:

I hope he does, as this 'Pak' is the most useful file I've downloaded for SH3 so far, and it has made life in late war years a bit easier. Excellent work by Jungman.

You are right about the detection thing. The snorkel WILL give away your position if you're using it submerged. Still there is a way to put it to use.

I use the snorkel to accelerate my crash divings. When the snorkel becomes available I travel on the surface at a depth of 7m with my diving tanks flooded. I can use my "diesels" in "surface" style and as soon as I get radar contact I'll start diving. The extended snorkel allows my sub to use the "diesel" another 4-5 seconds before the e-engines kick in and I can gain depth very fast because I'm still traveling at "diesel" speed. We're talkin about diving times of 15 seconds or less to go to 25m. No airplane will get you this way...

Just read Clay Blair's chapter on the August 1944 U-boat operations in the English Channel, it seems that more than one year after entering service the Schnorkel was still awfully faulty. Survivors from 3 different boats reported that poisonous fumes entered the submarine due to Schnorkel mis-functioning (I wonder how many boats sunk without survivors had the same problem). Another boat had to break-off her patrol because she was unable to retract the Schnorkel, even manually.

Cheers
 

Thanks for that Nopileo.

I have not yet received radar but from what I have read, I want to be ready. Also enjoyed reading some of the ways to improve crash diving by running decks awash and using snorkel. Neat.


Good idea to PM Jungman and get him to link Sensorpak. If 43+ is that bad then a lot of people are going to be needing his pack.

Salute

The snort was unable to operate correctly in rough sea's as the diesels exhaust pressure could only overcome approx 0.5M of water above it when that increased to approx 1 Metre or more the back pressure on the exhaust forced the relief valves inside the boat to open and then the CO was dumped inside the boat until the outside pressure was reduced.

To reduce huge pressure fluctuations in the engine room the bulkhead hatch was left open to the rest of the boat this ensured the diesels could breath air from the boat without being starved while the snort dropped below the water line. This also ensured CO moved freely about the whole boat as well.

Re: Cheers
 

You're welcome. And I agree that was a clever use of the snorkel by lifer to decrease dive time! :up:

I received a response from Jungman. He has not made a dedicated thread for the SensorPak yet, as he's still working on it, so that is good news. :yep:

i read that if you used the Snorkel in the Real UBoats you couldn't travel faster than 6sm. In SH3 you could travel at AK :-)

In a Type VII I think up to 8Knots was acceptable but less than that would have been normal.

From memory up to 13 Knots is possible BUT bad things start to happen - One thing from memory is some sort of resonance sets up with the periscope housing not to mention damage directly to the Snort in heavy seas and high speeds.

Probably 6Knots would be considered a nice top speed for Snorkel travel, much over that is fantasy land.