Duds in the Fog
 

I'm sure there are more things I'll discover as I delve deeper into my first career and get many more patrols under my belt. But, I learned a big lesson on my second and third patrols yesterday. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER again will I fire a torpedo at even a stationary target in the fog. On my second patrol I snuck into a harbor that was socked in with fog. Great for getting in undetected right? Once there I found a small old tanker and a large composite freighter that I expended all my torpedos on without sinking either one. Keep in mind that I don't have dud torpedos turned on. One dud after the other, except one for some reason I wasted all my torpedos. The next patrol I snuck into another harbor that was fogged in as well,.. at first. There was a small old tanker here as well that was parked out in the open for an easy 90 degree shot. Once again I fired while in the fog,.. and once again thunk/drop boom. DUD! So I decided to wait till it cleared up, which it did. Fired again,.. and KABOOM! Down that tanker went. Is this something everyone has experienced???

Well, keep in mind that there is a minimum arming distance (400 yards on early torpedoes, 300 on later torpedoes), while the fog at maximum thickness lets you only see a couple of hundred yards ahead. So your duds aren't caused by fog - they're caused by being too close to your target.

Agreed, fog has no connection to duds, either too close or just a bad load of torps. Several values can effect dud rate, sea state, angle of impact, speed, etc.,. With most mods, if you have duds on, failure rate is about 50%, but I've had times of 80% failure. Torps get much better in 43.

While harbor raiding in real bad fog, you can use your radar to find the bearing of a ship, and then use your hydrophone to ping it for a range, I think.

also keep in mind that in some harbors there are sand bars or shallow areas where your torps may hit and explode early or go dead as a dud for hitting something before it arms. as a rule i always set torps at shallowest depth to avoid these surprises

And ships can be located behind concrete docks that like to stop fish dead before they reach the target.

Well,. all of you made very valid points but I believe CCIP hit the nail on the head as that would explain why my one torpedo did explode on the small old tanker. I was pulling away from it to go try the large modern composite and simply used the old data in the TDC and took a blind shot. So I must have been just over 400 yards because,. KABOOM! But it wasn't enough to sink him.

I did display my nubness for all the world to see in my original post for this thread but I'm not THAT nubby. :03: I did also mention that I've got dud torps turned off and that's why I was confused. I'm not so confused as to think that fog can actually cause duds, I simply didn't know what range torps need in order to arm themselves but thought that I had to have been far enough away. So the next assumption was that it was a bug in the sim. Bad assumption on my part. :oops:

I started my career in early 42' and I'm in a Porpoise class sub. The USS Pickerel to be exact. I've yet to see any surface radar be available for my boat.
and

I know it's not realistic but I'm one of those guys that likes to watch my handiwork as ships explode, list and get sent to the bottom. So I was watching the underside of each boat as my torps would hit them,.. and sadly bounce off. The small old tanker in particular was in a dock slip between two concrete walls, so I was very careful to choose a decent angle for the torp to hit the boat at and yet not hit either wall.

Bottom line is,. I feel like a complete idiot now and also like taking any egg I had on my cap and putting it on my face. :doh: Thanks for the advice and in the future I promise to try and not be such a nub. :salute:

I wouldn't worry about it you're not the first one to have egg on his face over things like fog and arming distance and a whole bunch of other silly mistakes. Wait till you run into an island or sink a Essex carrier, among a multitude other like mistakes.

Realistic or not most of us at one time watched torp's hit etc. It's fun. :woot:
Still do some times.

Enjoy the game and work your way up as you see fit.

You'll get radar a little later on.


Magic

You feel like an idiot, you'll fit right in here........

As evidenced below,.. this idiot can shoot between the concrete walls of a dock slip. :know:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg833...pg&res=landing

But can't find the NumPad Del key to remove the HUD. :O:

Yes Magic,.. I was expecting that if the timeline holds true with the original SH that I'd be seeing a surface radar soon.

LOL Armistead,.. I feel more at home already. Although,.. Sailor Steve keeps raising the bar on me. :O: