Quote:
Originally Posted by I'm goin' down
Also, O'Kane, being a rule of thumb, becomes less accurate at long ranges.....
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You weren't paying attention. You are confusing a rule of thumb lead angle, which O'Kane does not do as explained above, with rule of thumb aiming bearing, which is the glory of Dick O'Kane. Yes, you pick the aiming bearing by rule of thumb.
But the TDC calculates the lead angle with much greater accuracy than you could from a chart and with much more possible variability. It NEVER picks the wrong torpedo speed. It NEVER picks the wrong row unless you enter the wrong target speed.
Also, the lead angle changes depending on the aiming bearing. HUH??? Think about this. With an AoB of zero there is no lead angle at all no matter what the target speed. But lead angle is maximum when impact is at the zero bearing. Your charts can NEVER reflect the constantly changing lead angle with AoB. The TDC calculates it continuously and accurately.
Therefore if you decide not to wait and shoot when the target bears 340º, you can do that with Dick O'Kane and hit every time. With your charts you'll have to wait until he crosses the wire at 350º or just miss. What if you get distracted and don't shoot at 350? Using Dick O'Kane, you just aim up another bearing, like zero, press the send button and you'll still hit because the TDC adjusts for a new lead angle not found in ANY CHART! Dick O'Kane is MORE ACCURATE than a chart, not less because you are not using a chiseled in stone chart, you are using an analog computer which blows that chart all to Hades! It also eliminates a whole horde of human errors that come from using those charts.
So nothing that comes after your quoted statement has any validity whatever. The chart contains dozens of numbers. The TDC generates millions and millions. My money's on the TDC.
By the way, Fast-90, usable only by U-Boats, is even more flexible than Dick O'Kane because you don't need to do anything after TDC setup but point the periscope at the target, no matter what the bearing and shoot. You'll hit your mark, With Dick O'Kane in a fleet boat you have to press the send bearing/range button to send the new aiming bearing to the TDC. For maximum accuracy with Dick O'Kane you should also adjust the AoB, but the U-Boat's active periscope/TDC link automatically adjusts the AoB also!