4-Player SOPs
 

All,

In the spirit of this thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...65#post2605065

I have created SOPs for fewer players, as experience has born out that it can be tough to fill a boat on any given day!

4-player SOPs to follow.

Abbreviations

C – Commander
N – Navigator
D/H – Dive Officer/Helmsman - these roles are combined.
R – Radioman

Stations

Stations While Surfaced (In Sight of Enemy):
C – Bridge (Forward Watch) – full situational awareness up here. His station is at the front starboard corner of the bridge (by the RDF), covering the horizon from 90 deg to 270 deg. He also uses UZO to relay bearings to the navigator.
N – Tower (Plot) – Since his function is plotting at this stage, and he can read off exact bearing from the TDC, it makes sense for him to be down here collecting bearings for his plot (and getting rough ranges and AOB estimates from the commander on the bridge).
D/H – Control Room – Ready at the dive station and manning rudder.
R – Bridge (Stern Watch) – The receipt of radio messages is audible throughout the boat, and so he does not need to be in the radio shack on the surface (unless so desired if operating in a wolfpack where frequent important communication is expected). His station is near the tower hatch covering the stern horizon from 90 deg to 270 deg.

Surface Battle Stations (When Carrying Out the Attack):
C – Bridge – full situational awareness to direct the attack.
N – Bridge/Deck Gun – At commander’s option, he could serve historical role of 1WO and conduct the attack on the UZO, directed by the commander (probably preferable for same reasons as real life – commander can focus on other sectors etc).
D/H – Control Room – Ready at the dive station and manning rudder.
R – Tower – Manning TDC and, since right behind him, also the rudder when course changes are needed. Since most course changes ordered during the attack are rudder commands, he doesn’t need a compass. He can also assist with rangefinding at the attack scope.

At any one time, there is always one man in the tower on the surface (either the Navigator or the Radioman). This man will always be the one to man the aft vents on the dive order. The dive procedures that follow assume the Navigator is in the tower, but it could just as well be the Radioman in the case of a night attack. In that case, Navigator and Radioman roles are temporarily reversed for the dive, as then Radioman would go to Echolot and aft vents instead. I have included them in parentheses for the procedures where this would be reversed. Only real thing to remember is – the man in the tower will jump down on the aft vents!

Stations While Submerged:
C – Control Room – best situational awareness here.
N – Control Room – ready to perform duties as required, also plotting underwater movement.
D/H – Control Room – At planes maintaining depth and monitoring rudder station.
R – Hydrophone – searching for contacts.

Underwater Battle Stations:
C – Tower/Control Room – attack scope/obs scope
N – Tower – TDC and assisting with range tables, attack disc etc.
D/H – Control Room – At planes maintaining depth and monitoring rudder station.
R – Hydrophone – searching for contacts.

Test (Routine) Dive
C – “Prepare to dive” – Navigator(/Radioman) immediately slides down ladder from tower, goes to Echolot for quick sounding then to aft ballast vents. Bridgewatch goes below in following order: Radioman(/Navigator) (to negative controls), Commander last and closes hatch.

D/H – Switches to electrics, then Great Ahead, mans fwd ballast vents, reports “Forward vents ready”.

N(/R) – Reports depth under keel, then at aft vents: “aft vents ready, all vents ready”. Marks current position on map.

C – Shuts tower hatch, orders “Flood!”

D/H – Opens fwd ballast vents, reports “Forward open”. Sets fwd planes hard down, aft down 5.

N(/R) – After about 5 seconds, opens aft ballast vents, reports “Aft open, vents are open”.

Note: At this point, if Radioman manned aft vents and Navigator the negative, they switch out to their usual roles.

At 8-15 meters depth:
D/H – Orders “Blow negative”.

R – Blows negative, reports when done “Negative blown”. Mans hydrophone.

C – Orders “Go to x meters”.

D/H – Reports depth in 10-meter increments, having established a down angle of 5-8 deg. Levels off 2-5 meters below ordered depth, sets planes fwd up 10, aft up 15 and approaches ordered depth from below.

At desired depth:
D/H - Reports “Boat is balanced”.

C – Orders “Close vents”.

D/H – Closes fwd vents, reports “Forward closed”.

N – Closes aft vents, reports “Aft closed, all vents closed”, inspects for leaks, reports “No leaks in the boat”, reports compressed air level.

C – Orders course and speed (usually slow ahead, half ahead for any depth changes)

D/H – Reports battery level.

R – Reports sound contacts.

Crash Dive
C – “Alarm!”

D/H – Sounds alarm bell.

Remaining procedures same as test dive except as follows:

1. Diving officer/helmsman sets Full Ahead instead of Great Ahead at outset.

2. Diving officer/helmsman establishes initial down angle of 8-15 deg, and once past 20 meters, increases down angle to 15-30 deg to “drive” the boat to depth at Full Ahead.

3. Commander may want a 90-deg course change once below the surface, in which case the dive officer/helmsman will initiate this on his command (or automatically if desired by commander).

Depth Changes

1. Normally done at Half Ahead (Great Ahead if emergency). Diving officer/helmsman reports “Boat rising/falling/steady” according to situation.

2. If coming up from depth, perform a sound check at 20 meters, then a scope check at periscope depth prior to surfacing.

Surfacing (from Periscope Depth)

C – Orders “Prepare to surface” (Commander makes ready to climb ladder followed by Navigator, Radioman to negative tank controls, Diving Officer/Helmsman at diving station)

N – Reports “Bridge watch ready”.

C – Orders “Both Great Ahead” and “Surface!”

D/H – Sets fwd planes hard up, aft up 5 deg. When boat rises, reports “Boat rising” and orders “Flood negative”. Reports depth change: “14….13….12….”

R – Floods negative tank, makes ready to blow ballast.

C – Orders “Blow” and climbs ladder to hatch.

N – Follows commander up ladder, notes current position on chart.

R – Blows ballast, awaits order from commander to stop blowing, verifies negative flood valve shut.

D/H – Reports “Hatch coming free” when at 7.5 meters.

C – Climbs topside, orders “Switch to diesels”. (Just commander goes topside in case need to dive again quickly)

D/H – Switches to diesels and back to Great Ahead.

D/H – Reports “boat is out” when fully surfaced.

C – Orders “stop blowing” and quickly scans horizon to ensure all clear.

R – Stops blowing ballast, stands by. (This ensures that if not all clear, boat can get back down in a hurry)

C – If all clear, orders “Blow with diesel”. (This is a historical procedure not replicated in the game, but in WP it can serve as a signal to finish blowing as well as a reminder to start the diesel if not yet started)

N - Navigator remains in tower.

R – Finishes blowing ballast, reports “All have blown” when done.

D/H – Asks Commander if bilge may be pumped. Starts compressor and, if ordered, bilge pump.

C – “Secure from diving stations” (All are already in correct positions except Radioman who returns to post on bridge), orders course and speed as desired.

D/H – Unless told by commander otherwise, sets telegraph to charge batteries.

D/H – Monitors compressed air level and stops compressor when done.

Not sure if I'm doing this incorrectly: My UZO doesn't have a bearing in the scope.

How does the captain get a bearing from the UZO?

Needs to post a man down in the tower at the TDC to read bearing from the bottom left two dials labeled heading. I really hope we get a ring around the base of the UZO for bearing in the future!