Tanker with super-sight?
 

Hey everyone,

I just started a new career in 1939 (using GWX for the first time, GREAT WORK! :rock:), got myself a "nice" Type IIA and just departed on my first war patrol. So of course my crew is still pretty green and everything. I had something strange happen to me.

I was assigned a patrol grid in the middle of The English Channel, grid square AN81, I believe (not at my own PC right now...). So I am happily cruising along on the surface, doing 7 knots. Dive every so often to listen for ships. Sure enough, there are contacts but most of them turn out to be neutrals.

Then, on September 6, I get a contact report from BdU about a lone ship sailing directly towards me, very close as well. So I turn to intercept the contact to see what it is. I put fresh crew up on the conning tower, including someone with the watchman skill. However, it is slightly foggy, so visibility is limited.
I dive to acquire the target, and sure enough, the hydrophone picks it up. I change course slightly so I would sail past the target at some distance. I need to identify it first, of course.

Sailing slowly forward at 4 knots, my crew is scanning the horizon for the contact. Nothing....still nothing...still nothing...odd, he should have been here by now. Then, I notice the stealth indicator is quickly changing from green to red! Huh? Aircraft? Nope, nothing to see...
Still someone must be seeing me. So I grab the binocs myself and start scanning the horizon. Nothing. Weird...

I scan the horizon again, slowly. Then, very, very faintly I make out the outline of my target in the fog. She's seen me and turning away from me at high speed, dissappearing into the fog. Hm.... :hmm: Not a peep from my watchcrew? But the tanker has seen me??

I turn my boat around, speed ahead of the contact's reported course, hoping to catch them again. And sure enough, I do catch them again...but the same thing happens. She spots me before my watchcrew spots her. I finally decided to let her slip by, because I am starting to burn too much fuel.

What's so weird about this, is that I am pointing my bow almost directly towards her, I am in a Type IIA (very small) and still her bridgecrew spots me before I spot them. I should be very difficult to spot, running slowly, being so small and having such a low profile. Is my watchcrew having problems with their eye-sight or did that tanker have crew with super-vision or something? Or is something else going on?

Any thoughts, anyone?

They may have heard your engines rather than seen you.

Turn on "GWX - 16km atmosphere" mod in JGSME?
Maybe it helps your crew...

Don't think my PC can handle that...getting pretty old... :oops:

But my boat and the ship passed each other at less than 2000 meters, like I said in a bit of fog.

That could be...but then they could not have been sure I was a hostile. So no reason to run like that.

I can't remember if I've run into this myself.....

I guess it would be good to understand exactly how the stealth meter works. I would say maybe it does not take fog into consideration, but that wouldn't make any sense.

The stealth meter is only AN INDICATION of your danger
Doesnt mean you have been spotted or heard just that you can be

For that and many other reasons I never use it

Well, a sailor looking down from 15 or 20 meters high above the waterline in a large ship's command room will have far better chances of seeing your sub from afar than your lookouts sitting 2 meters above the water in the freezing cold. This is explained in the GWX manual. Your sub speed will also matter as a larger wake and splash created will make you more visible.

That being said, it sometimes happens that it takes a while for your crew to report a sighting, even if you can clearly see it yourself. I also find it interesting that the ship changed direction and ran away from you. Merchants usually just start zig-zagging but continue in the same direction, which makes intercept quite trivial in the end... Maybe it was just a coincidence?

When on the bridge in fog, I have often spotted ships long before the lookouts announce the sighting. It is a little better with the watch officer on deck. (Using GWX)

Yeah...turn that stealth meter off. I used to depend on it....but it just limits what you think you can get away with.

I know my wake matters, so that's why I said that I was going slow, one third ahead. But you do have a point there. The seas were very calm, no wind at all. And the lookouts on the merchant were a lot higher up than my poor crew. It was IIA, so can't be more than three, four meters above the water.

Perhaps the ship did start zig-zagging, but due to the fog I only saw it zig but missed the zag... :D
She did continue on in the same general direction, that's why I could intercept her a second time. Next time, I just need to remember to dive in such weather conditions... :oops:

1/3 ahead is NOT slow. Depending on conditions your wake from that speed is 3-4 times as likely to get spotted as at ahead slow.

GoDeep, lemme know if you have any probs with your fish reloading. i had a prob with the IIA:damn:

None except my crew take too long to load them. Lazy dogs.... ;)
I read there were some problems with reloading on the IIA, but fortunately haven't had any problem myself.

:hmm: , well atleast it's not my install. prolly something in the game itself that interferes with reloading