Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruff EL
uuuhh, ranges of 8-8500 yd shots are just as likely to hit as 1500 yd shots if you get your calculations done properly
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an 8,000 yard shot requires more precise measurements than a 1500 yard shot. 5 to 7 times as precise, in fact. Consider, I've measured target A and target B's speed to be 10 knots. Target A is 1,500 yards away, target B is 8,000 yards away. Both target's actual speed is 11 knots.
For a fast torpedo fired at Target A, the torpedo will run for 58.7 seconds, give or take. We'll round that up to 1 minute to account for time to accelerate to leave the tube and accelerate to speed.
For a slow torpedo fired at Target B, the torpedo will run for 400 seconds, we won't round that because it's a nice round number already, but it's probably closer to 402 or 404 seconds.
Now, Target A runs for 1 minute at 1 knot faster than we measured. He only travels 33 yards farther than we estimated, which means shots aimed at Bow hit MoT, shots aimed at MoT hit stern, and shots aimed at stern miss astern.
Target B, on the other hand runs for 6 2/3s times longer. It travels nearly 220 yards. For reference, Liberty ships had a waterline hull length of 150 yards. All that from a 1 knot error in speed estimation.
Similarly, 1 degree of error in target position results in a miss of aimed target of 50 feet per 1,000 yards. Or, in this case 75 feet for Target A (still a hit, but aft of target) or 400 feet for Target B (nearly the length of a Liberty Ship).
One degree of error in measured AoB moves our projected impact point by a similar margin, through it's impact is harder to figure because we're dealing with the distance between two points on two different triangles. It's smaller than the error for target position, but it's still noticeable.
A formula is only as good as the input you give it and thanks for advanced math and calculus, we know that every measurement we take introduces a small amount of error into the input. The variable with the most direct control over the impact of those errors is range, therefore many people seek to reduce that variable as much as possible to reduce the size of the inevitable errors they introduce through measurements.