CaptBones |
04-17-14 12:21 PM |
Displacement vs Registered Tonnage
Let's also not forget that in the game (and in real life) merchant vessels were not measured in displacement, but in Gross Registered Tons (GRT) or British Registered Tons (BRT). The registered ton is the cargo carrying capacity measured in cubic feet (100cuft = 1 ton) and can vary widely (and wildly) between ships of similar size and hull form. The cargo capacity of a passenger/cargo ship is very different from a general cargo ship or a dry-bulk carrier or a liquid-bulk carrier, even if they all have the same length between perpendiculars, the same beam, the same molded depth, and the same draft. For instance, a mass of human cargo and mail requires much, much, more volume than the same mass of crude oil, or raw iron ore, or bagged wheat flour, or trucks and airplane components, etc., etc.
In practice the cubic cargo capacity of a given vessel could also produce a different draft/displacement, depending on what is the cargo. That's the reason load limits are painted on the hull, in the form of the Plimsoll mark. No matter what you're carrying, you can only load as much as it takes to bring your draft, and hence your displacement, up (or is it down?) to the maximum seasonal mark on the hull.
Enough of that...but just for the fun of it, I also wanted to remark regarding the '2 torpedoes to sink a C2' comment. I almost never need more than one torpedo to sink any merchant ship...accurate placement of the "eel" in a critical location works every time, even if it takes an hour or so for the ship to take her plunge..."one torpedo, one ship."
Here's a couple of tricks I learned and used in real life that seem to work well in the game, for me at least...when using a magnetic pistol (influence detonator), make your point of aim amidships, but fire the shot to hit the target (well, pass under it, actually) at an oblique angle. When using an impact pistol (contact detonator) make your aim point anywhere but amidships (directly under a mast or Kingpost, or right ahead of the bridge seems best) and be sure you get as close as possible to a 90deg weapon track to the target (torpedo hits at a right angle to the hull). It should be noted though; for a time, the real world U-Boat commanders' experiences with the impact pistols were totally the opposite. The better the weapon solution, the more likely the pistol was to fail. In addition to the other failure modes, a "perfect" 90deg impact angle would result in the inertial firing mechanism failing, getting crushed instead of detonating the warhead. That was also exactly the opposite of the early-war problem the US Navy experienced with its contact detonators. Anyway...good hunting everyone, sink 'em all!
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