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Pitts2112 · 01-19-11, 07:17 PM

Hello, everyone! I'm new here and have been playing SH4 for a few weeks. I played SH1 about 13 years ago and now remember why I played it so much.

I'm just now reading O'Kane's "Wahoo" and he described his attack method, which he and Morton developed together, as giving the enemy ship almost nowhere to go regardless of his maneuvering after seeing the incoming torpedoes. In reference to RR's recent post, RR explained the reasons for O'Kane's order of the torpedo/target points perfectly. O'Kane worked from middle to stern to bow, in that order, on most of the attacks he described in the book.

What I haven't been able to figure out quite well is how he moved his aiming point. I'm guessing he set up the whole attack for the first torpedo and held this bearing until the middle of the ship crossed the periscope hair, then moved the periscope to some point ahead of the first one, reset it in the TDC, then waited for the stern to cross that line, then moved ahead again to a third bearing, reset it in the TDC, and waited for the bow to cross the hair then. As RR says, that will result in three very divergent tracks, which give the enemy skipper no options that will avoid all the shots. O'Kane described pulling this kind of attack, and having all three shots out of the tubes in about 20-30 seconds. That seems to be enough time to reset new bearings for each of the target points on the ship, but that's just a guess.

The other thing he mentioned is that Morton favored a 120 degree setup with the above procedure, and that seems to be the key in the "no avoiding options" factor on this method, but I haven't been able to picture in my mind exactly what he means by that. I'm guessing he means firing from 30 degrees abaft the midships point on the enemy target, but i'm not sure about that or how that would be better than a straight 90 degree setup.

And if I understand how this method uses the technology onboard, the TDC is still giving gyro angles to the torpedoes that factor in speed and angle on the bow of the target but, since the bearing is fixed, the PK is not updating the position of the ship. In effect, it's tricking the PK by saying that the target is at the shooting bearing before it's actually arrived there and just holding off on the shoot until it does arrive. True?

And, finally, I saw someone earlier in this post someone talk about calculating AoB or eyeballing it. O'Kane was an expert at eyeballing it (as has been mentioned in other threads here), and doing so would be a good back-check that the visual, plot, and TDC data are all matching before shooting, meaning all the data input so far has led to an accurate solution inside the boat that matches what the skipper is seeing on the surface. I've not read anywhere of a plotted AoB being used as credible attack data. I think they were always eyeballed by the attack officer.

The amount of info on here is terrific and as added an enourmous amount to my enjoyment of the game. Thanks to everyone here for that!

Just .02 worth from a noob.

01-19-11, 07:17 PM	#6
Pitts2112 Watch Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 30 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Order of target points Hello, everyone! I'm new here and have been playing SH4 for a few weeks. I played SH1 about 13 years ago and now remember why I played it so much. I'm just now reading O'Kane's "Wahoo" and he described his attack method, which he and Morton developed together, as giving the enemy ship almost nowhere to go regardless of his maneuvering after seeing the incoming torpedoes. In reference to RR's recent post, RR explained the reasons for O'Kane's order of the torpedo/target points perfectly. O'Kane worked from middle to stern to bow, in that order, on most of the attacks he described in the book. What I haven't been able to figure out quite well is how he moved his aiming point. I'm guessing he set up the whole attack for the first torpedo and held this bearing until the middle of the ship crossed the periscope hair, then moved the periscope to some point ahead of the first one, reset it in the TDC, then waited for the stern to cross that line, then moved ahead again to a third bearing, reset it in the TDC, and waited for the bow to cross the hair then. As RR says, that will result in three very divergent tracks, which give the enemy skipper no options that will avoid all the shots. O'Kane described pulling this kind of attack, and having all three shots out of the tubes in about 20-30 seconds. That seems to be enough time to reset new bearings for each of the target points on the ship, but that's just a guess. The other thing he mentioned is that Morton favored a 120 degree setup with the above procedure, and that seems to be the key in the "no avoiding options" factor on this method, but I haven't been able to picture in my mind exactly what he means by that. I'm guessing he means firing from 30 degrees abaft the midships point on the enemy target, but i'm not sure about that or how that would be better than a straight 90 degree setup. And if I understand how this method uses the technology onboard, the TDC is still giving gyro angles to the torpedoes that factor in speed and angle on the bow of the target but, since the bearing is fixed, the PK is not updating the position of the ship. In effect, it's tricking the PK by saying that the target is at the shooting bearing before it's actually arrived there and just holding off on the shoot until it does arrive. True? And, finally, I saw someone earlier in this post someone talk about calculating AoB or eyeballing it. O'Kane was an expert at eyeballing it (as has been mentioned in other threads here), and doing so would be a good back-check that the visual, plot, and TDC data are all matching before shooting, meaning all the data input so far has led to an accurate solution inside the boat that matches what the skipper is seeing on the surface. I've not read anywhere of a plotted AoB being used as credible attack data. I think they were always eyeballed by the attack officer. The amount of info on here is terrific and as added an enourmous amount to my enjoyment of the game. Thanks to everyone here for that! Just .02 worth from a noob.