[TorpX]

I found the relevent pages in O'Kane's book. I've quoted him at length because I consider him to be very knowlegable and so the reader can understand he put a good deal of thought into his strategy. This is from p54 of CLEAR THE BRIDGE, (I marked the most relevent parts in blue):



[QUOTE]... Dawn came and we continued our search, now augmented by the search periscope, with Tang still on the surface, lying to and maintaining quiet.

This was a far cry from accepted submarine doctrine, which dictated having way on the boat, but what is doctrine anyway? I believe it is a set of procdures, established through experience, that provides a guide. But doctrine should be flexible, never rigid, for circumstances often dictate complete departures. Our situation that day was an example of such curcumstances.

In order for us to utilize speed in searching, it was first necessary to know the general direction of the enemy's movement. We could then proceed on a very wide zigzag ahead and thus cover a broader front as the enemy overtook. But we were presently in an open-sea area, and enemy ships might be on any track, though the northwest-southeast courses passing through the western part seemed more likely. No amount of running around at our available speeds would increase the probability of sighting the enemy. In fact, to do so would only make us a target for a submerged enemy submarine and would blank out our sound gear with our own screw noises.

Tang was lying to in the center of a circle some 20 miles in diameter that we had searched by radar and sound during the three hours before daylight. It was clear of any enemy. The only planes that could reach our position were patrol bombers. We could sight them and dive before they sighted us, for our diving time when lying to was only five seconds longer than when proceeding at 15 knots. The only real danger was from a submarine, but she would first have to come into the area undetected by our sound, radar, scopes, and lookouts. Then she would have to conduct a many-mile submerged approach. This would call for considerable submerged speed. Our soundman, with no interference from our own propeller noises or from other machinery, would detect her screws before she reached an attack position. The foregoing was not just conjecture or we would not be staking our lives on it.

In addition, lying to while in this open-sea area would use only the diesel fuel necessary for normal living, just a fraction of that consumed when cuuising at one-engine speed. The oil we saved would be available when it might really be needed in persuing the enemy.

There were, of course, the alternatives of a submerged patrol with high periscope searches or of periodic surfacing. Neither of these would insure the coverage we wanted, nor would they save the fuel, as we would then be charging batteries nightly.

We shifed our patrol station 20 miles each evening so that if we were detected, shipping could not just be routed clear of a single spot. At the same time we were working south near the western boundary of our assigned area. ...
[/QUOTE]




From what O'Kane said, I think it is clear that he either worked out some of these search problems mathematically, or learned from intructors who did. Possibly, someone will find some USN charts/manuals/documents that deal with this issue.


From joe grundman:

Interesting discussion TorpX (your part of it, anyway)

I'd been wondering about that very thing actually.

Thanks.
I read OK's technique just as I started getting into subsims, and have used his tactics. I'm sure it is possible to have good patrols with other methods, but I still think OK's method is the best for searching in open-seas, where you have no assurance of finding plentiful contacts. I haven't read all the available literature by any means, but I believe at least a few others made use of similer strategies.