SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - S-Boats

Armistead · 05-02-12, 11:45 AM

Ok, I studied the matter with S boats dive times using TMO...rather strange at first. Seems I did this long ago.

One thing you will notice about the S boat is that the dive planes are located much higher up, so it needs heavy ballast before the dive planes can hit the water and start the sub down.

All dives were using the P periscope depth key unless stated.

My first dive at standard was 2 mins, 15 seconds...2:15
Surfaced for a minute and dived again......35 seconds.

Is something strange here, not really..
The S boat in calm waters surfaced has a depth of about 17ft. When I dived the second time, even though I was surfaced and making standard speed my depth was 19 ft, simply...the boat was still heavy with ballast.
However, results then seem to vary. Next dive I came up and waited until I was at 17ft steady and dived again, , this time it was 55 seconds...could the game acutally have the boat riding heavy.

After more test, it seems it actually takes a good 5-7 minutes for all ballast to empty, even though I have a depth of 17ft in about two minutes. If you stay surfaced for say 10 minutes, each dive after that was about 2:00, wait an hour or so a stedy 2:15. It seemed consistant, each minute I waited longer to dive from 1-8 minutes it would take longer to get to scope depth.

Blowing ballast seemed to have some effect. If I blew ballast to come up, dive times were increase by 15 seconds.

I haven't tested it, but I would assume if you're going slower, say 1/3 it may take even longer than 2:15

One thing I do when I'm in a S boat near a group plotting, is set depth to about 21 ft, you stay surfaced, speeds stay the same, but since you're riding with some heavy ballast, you can dive much quicker, moreso using crash dive......and always use crash dive in a S boat when you need to get under.

05-02-12, 11:45 AM	#12
Armistead Rear Admiral Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: on the Dan Posts: 10,880 Downloads: 364 Uploads: 0	Ok, I studied the matter with S boats dive times using TMO...rather strange at first. Seems I did this long ago. One thing you will notice about the S boat is that the dive planes are located much higher up, so it needs heavy ballast before the dive planes can hit the water and start the sub down. All dives were using the P periscope depth key unless stated. My first dive at standard was 2 mins, 15 seconds...2:15 Surfaced for a minute and dived again......35 seconds. Is something strange here, not really.. The S boat in calm waters surfaced has a depth of about 17ft. When I dived the second time, even though I was surfaced and making standard speed my depth was 19 ft, simply...the boat was still heavy with ballast. However, results then seem to vary. Next dive I came up and waited until I was at 17ft steady and dived again, , this time it was 55 seconds...could the game acutally have the boat riding heavy. After more test, it seems it actually takes a good 5-7 minutes for all ballast to empty, even though I have a depth of 17ft in about two minutes. If you stay surfaced for say 10 minutes, each dive after that was about 2:00, wait an hour or so a stedy 2:15. It seemed consistant, each minute I waited longer to dive from 1-8 minutes it would take longer to get to scope depth. Blowing ballast seemed to have some effect. If I blew ballast to come up, dive times were increase by 15 seconds. I haven't tested it, but I would assume if you're going slower, say 1/3 it may take even longer than 2:15 One thing I do when I'm in a S boat near a group plotting, is set depth to about 21 ft, you stay surfaced, speeds stay the same, but since you're riding with some heavy ballast, you can dive much quicker, moreso using crash dive......and always use crash dive in a S boat when you need to get under. Last edited by Armistead; 05-02-12 at 12:01 PM.