Protractor matching my heading?
 

Hi

I'm still getting to grips with the Navigation tools. However I was wondering if I can get the protractor to start 0° at the same heading as my boat? This is so when I am listening through hydrophones for example that I know the bearing I am hearing contact is the same bearing exactly on the protractor for marking contacts. So how do I get the protractor to mirror my heading as opposed to the 0° North setting it defaults to.

Thanks

Here's how I do it: I use the protractor to draw a line that lines up with my course. Then I use the protractor a second time and it puts the zero on that first line and I can turn it and get the bearing and add a second line

Thanks Neal.

The hydrophone also shows the true bearing of the needle (white-yellow ring with N on it), so you can plot it directly with the north-fixed compass dial on the mouse. You just use the other bearing number. If the boat drifts away from the intended course then at least the bearing is correct. Maybe not exactly the point of origin of the bearing line. And be carefull with bearings from the periscopes/UZO. They are still bow-relative. You can ask the radio/hydro man to convert ofcourse.

But you can also set the protractor to a specific angle. Place two marks on a line, select the protractor tool and hold space, then click on both marks with the snap-to function enabled. However, you will have to make sure the boat stays on course.

I suggested to the developers to also make the numerical entry of line length and direction relative to this rotated protractor. But so far it seems to fall on deaf ears. Also received little support by the playing community.

Also, jima suggested: You can start a line on the chart and hold the space bar then drag that line to whatever heading you wish and it will put 0 on the protractor at whatever direction you draw the line.

Also another useful thing you can do if you want to draw a line on the chart from your sub in the direction you're heading you can start a line at the bow of your sub. Zoom in when doing this to get an accurate start point. Then type on the keypad how long you want this line to be such as 5000, then hit enter. This will draw a 5000 meter line on the chart. Then type in your heading and hit enter. This will change the direction of that line to your heading. If your heading is 0 degrees, type in 360 because it will not take just typing 0.

Yeah, that's the numerical entry method that I mentioned in the end. But didn't go into detail as much.