Determining Contact Course?
 

How the heck do you determine what the contacts course is? I've read the TMA section of the manual several times to no avail.

Seems to me that you're constantly guessing on where the contact is heading within a given 180 degree arc and at what range he's at. For instance. Technically, can't all of these solutions be correct? In each one the ruler aligns with all of the bearing lines, so how the heck do you narrow it down?

http://webpages.charter.net/gdawson/whichone.jpg

Takes patience and practice, mate. :ahoy:

With modern sonar, you're usually detecting your target from a long ways off (sometimes out in a convergence zone, over 30 miles away), and it's impossible to estimate the target's range and course right away. You need to take plenty of time, and make lots of course and speed changes. As you do, the number of possible firing solutions will drop, until you will eventually have a pretty good idea where your target is and where he's heading. Once you're in closer, don't hesitate to further enhance your solution by using your two other passive sensors (the ESM, and your periscope). Marking your contact with these sensors will also reduce the number of possible solutions, and you can get a much better idea of a target's course.

Cheers. :()1:

Yep. As soon as you gain a Master contact you easily can find out the course.

Assuming you're tracking the contact with both SA and TA, the points where the bearing lines provided by those sensors cross are the exact position of the contact at that time.

With two of those crossings (4 minutes) you have range, speed and course with very good accuracy.

Just aligh the ruler properly across those "crossing points"