Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Prates
Basically, the targed "fills in" a certain ammount of space in your scope view. If your scope is centered and locked in the very midst of the target, that portion will be "0 degrees" in the scope, obviously. Well, the spread angle you want to set is the same ammount of degrees as the other portions of the ship appears in the scope. Then it's all about measuring the extremities of the target. So let's say the bow is at +3 degrees and the stern is at -3 degress, If you want to hit 6 torps in quasi-identical distances, you set angles for +3, +2, +1, 0, -1 and -2, and you will be hitting everything but the propellor (which would be at -3 degrees).
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That's a good rule of thumb, but it's oversimplifying in a way that might make you miss, unless yourself and the target are stationary and the scope is at zero degrees. The angular length of the target in your scope is different to the angular length of the target at the calculated point of impact.
For example, if you were abeam a target at an AoB of 90 degree and the target was observed to have an angular length of 6 degrees, then we know that as the target is moving, the torpedoes have to be giving a gyro angle order that will put them on an intercept course. They will have to travel ahead of the target in order to get there, so will cover a distance greater than the range to target, known as the run length. When they arrive at the impact point, the target has drawn ahead, so now presents an AoB of less than the optimal 90 degrees, so the target appears shorter than 6 degrees. The slower the torpedoes, the more pronounced this affect is.
You also have to consider the effect of high gyro angle shots, where the reach of the torpedo comes into play and also shots where you are shooting from ahead will have a torpedo run length less than the range to target with an AoB more favourable, so will give a better target and your calculated 100% spread maybe much lower than you think.
A 100% spread (e.g. a spread set so that the torpedos hit equally along the whole length) if almost perfectly calculated will mean one torpedo will miss. A higher spread, e.g. 125% is better if you aren't 100% on your data, or even higher sometimes, depending on your goal and the quality of your data. The key is to know what the angular length of the target is at the impact point accurately.