Air dropped torps and Shallow waters
 

Air dropped torpedos sink in the mud if the water depth is 80 ft or so. :damn: Is this a bug or a feature? :stare: :hmm: My leanings are to bug because real life dropped torpedos use chutes. :yep: Also WW2 air dropped torpedos did not do this (at least not 100% of the time) :arrgh!:

You have to use lightweight torpedos and launch them at low altitude.

lightweight - as opposed to Mk38? and is 50 ft low enough?

50 ft is surely low enough, on the p-3 you can carry only mk-46 and mk-50.
Maybe you are not setting the "depth" variable accordingly prior to launch.?

:yep: :yep: :yep:

Re: Air dropped torps and Shallow waters
 

Feature. They use chutes, but that means they enter the water vertically - AFAIK a WWII torp is hits the water more or less on its belly, so the pre-stabilization dip may well be less.

The Jap's launched torps in pearl harbour and its what not far over 40 feet deep.

Re: Air dropped torps and Shallow waters
 

Some Russian ones did. One used three so I could be droped from High Alt. :o

IIRC they made their torps able to be used in very shallow water specifically for Pearl Harbor.

Check the CADC for that ... I posted way back how to drop them in low waters. Nevertheless even with chutes and all you are dropping something that is pretty heavy compared to a human for example at speed so a bit depth would be nice ... I think as it is it's ok.

So basically a sub can stay in waters less than 80 ft and laught at any Seahawks or Orions? Is this limitation there for AI ?

you can use shallow water to your advantage in a game i recently played i was in deep water and managed to run into shallow water it got so shallow i surfaced.

Torpedo hit the mud as it couldnt get up the under sea mounds to get me.

Shallow water plays hell on air-dropped ANYTHING. Although, in the P3 you can compensate by flying low (as mentioned) and fast. 50', throttles to the firewall, which causes the torpedo to have a flatter trajectory when it splashes.

For helo's...er..hover with your belly in the water? :hmm:

I just made a mission where ownship was a kilo in shallow water <25m. Had a P-3, MH-60, SH-60B and SH-60F running searches in 10 mile box with me in center. I surfaced and watched on truth. All at once they turned towards, got within torpedo range and dropped all their torpedos into the mud! :lol: I let buzz me and then I blazed them all out of they sky with trusy SA-14! :rotfl:

Oh boy i have some debts to collect among them(especialy P-3) so...can u upload that mission :know:

Just find some shallow water areas stick some helos and p3 and fire away.
BTW the fire and smoke effects are amazing :up: . Watch them blaze into the sea from the bridge :rock:

I've usually reduced my speed instead. They don't end up that much more pitched, and it means less braking distance until the torpedo can steer (up from the bottom) again.

The shallow water problem is a reason that ASW mortars and depth charges are still in service around the world: They are not affected by the noise of shallow water, and also don't have to worry about bottoming out.

With the emphasis on blue-water-ops, the US Navy basically abandoned the DC/ASW mortar as a valid weapon system. European navies, to include the Russians, still have them on new-build ships.

NTM

True. But as far as ship-mount systems go, if you're close enough to use a DC or an ASW mortar, you're already in a VERY bad place.

EDIT: Back to the subject of air-dropped toys. If the water is too shallow for effective torpedo deployment, could one not use air-dropped mines? Kind of a poor-man's depth bomb with a proxy fuse?

Yes, and to a point, no. A large number of surface vessels with DCs/ASW mortars are corvette sized. Nice and maneuverable, and are they really worth a sub torp or two? (OK, if it's a case of dying or using a torp...) You also have the issue of the very thing which makes ASW mortars a practical alternative, the effects of shallow water on torpedo seekers. Any torpedoes fired by the submarine at these small targets might well end up confused.

At any rate, there must be something to the concept, as they are still being fitted. The Visby stealth corvettes of the Royal Swedish Navy, for example, have them.

Why not just drop depth charges set for a suitable depth? If it's 50 meters of water, set it for 30 meters. You're not going to be more than 10 meters from the hull in elevation. There are, however, acoustic-homing depth charges in existance.

NTM