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Originally Posted by Maceaciadh
this is by far the easiest and fastest method out there(i use it). perhaps you have misunderstood what he meant by it. you draw a line of the contacts course and if you want mark crosses every 16KM(ship at 8Kts) to help visualise it(just double the speed in knots gives you a slight overestimation in KMpH) then as stated set course to an appropriate point on that line. you move your waypoint along the line and the navigator gives you a time to that waypoint. adjust accordingly and you are there. no fuss, no hassle, no time wasted drawing stuff (unless you like that way).
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Ok, so this method is more guestimating than calculating. But still, it requires multiple checks (at hour marks) to see if you got there already.
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after all the targets heading is an estimation so why solve it properly something that is wrong?
a bit hard to explain without pictures but really there are 2 bits of math
1)doubling ships speed from Kt to KMpH
2)roughly guessing where your intercept is.
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Because you want to get as close as possibl. Especially with fog and long range. Adding causes for error deliberately (like overestimating that 16 km equals 8 nautical mile) doesn't help with that. You want to be as exact as possible. Sure, the target course is uncertain. But that applies to both methods. Yours won't handle it any better than mine.
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FYI after the target travels 102KM it has a possibility of being beyond hydrophone range from the bearing inaccuracy (20KM radius)
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Then it's a good thing that the hydrophone actually works upto 33km. It's the crew that is either too deaf, or to lazy to report what you can hear yourself. So you have until 170 km.
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after a while you develop a seamans eye and can drag it almost perfectly to an intercept
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Ok, that is true. Trial and error makes those braincells learn to do it intuitively. But you'll also get the hang of making that drawing after a while. You'll do it blindfolded. Ok, not litterally.
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PS if in heavy fog may be better to do that whole circle business to save diving and listening alot but you can still be wrong over long distances so be careful
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Yes, it all boils down to how sure you can be of the target speed and course. But also how well you can keep your own speed (and course). You always have to consider the possibilities that it's going to fail. That's why I try to reduce as much causes.