SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post

Bubblehead1980 · 11-03-09, 04:08 PM

TMO's AI represents tough but not superhuman escorts, which I believe is a better representation of reality than pushover escorts.

I understand that Japan, esp in earlier part of war was way behind on ASW but they improved and were not quite as lackluster as it seems some out there think, they crippled and destroyed quite a few US subs, esp in mid 43 to the end of the war their ASW doctrine improved.Examples being USS Seahorse and USS Halibut.Halibut was damaged so severely in late 1944 after an effective depth charging that she never made war patrol again, damaged too severely to justify repair.Seahorse was severely damaged as well in 1945 by depth charges, believe she never made war patrol again either.The losses were pretty high in 43, 44 and 45 even, not all but most were lost to escorts.

Germany operated many more subs than the US, and they lost many more.For the 250 or so subs the US had at some point, losing 52 is quite a high loss rate(okay take out couple boats who grounded themselves).Then factor in those so severely damaged they were retired from combat, they were lost in a sense, they were not long useful against the enemy in war.All losses at enemy hands were to Japanese, not other nations(as far as i can tell) So Japanese ASW was not as lackluster as some think.

TMO's escorts are largely ineffective in early war(why i use the harder escort mod when playing 41-42 and early 43) but once hit mid 43 or so, the escorts get better and better at their job.Pretty much how it was.

11-03-09, 04:08 PM	#7
Bubblehead1980 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida USA Posts: 7,107 Downloads: 605 Uploads: 44	re TMO's AI represents tough but not superhuman escorts, which I believe is a better representation of reality than pushover escorts. I understand that Japan, esp in earlier part of war was way behind on ASW but they improved and were not quite as lackluster as it seems some out there think, they crippled and destroyed quite a few US subs, esp in mid 43 to the end of the war their ASW doctrine improved.Examples being USS Seahorse and USS Halibut.Halibut was damaged so severely in late 1944 after an effective depth charging that she never made war patrol again, damaged too severely to justify repair.Seahorse was severely damaged as well in 1945 by depth charges, believe she never made war patrol again either.The losses were pretty high in 43, 44 and 45 even, not all but most were lost to escorts. Germany operated many more subs than the US, and they lost many more.For the 250 or so subs the US had at some point, losing 52 is quite a high loss rate(okay take out couple boats who grounded themselves).Then factor in those so severely damaged they were retired from combat, they were lost in a sense, they were not long useful against the enemy in war.All losses at enemy hands were to Japanese, not other nations(as far as i can tell) So Japanese ASW was not as lackluster as some think. TMO's escorts are largely ineffective in early war(why i use the harder escort mod when playing 41-42 and early 43) but once hit mid 43 or so, the escorts get better and better at their job.Pretty much how it was.