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the dark knight · 12-03-13, 04:19 PM

To answer your question, not really. Some captains might have made the calculations on their own. How an attack in real life worked was like this: captain would call to action stations. Then the captain, and one to two officers would come into the conning tower. One officer (the torpedo control officer) would occupy his station at the firing solution computer. The captain would watch the target and convey target speed, range, and heading as well as the U-boat's own heading and speed verbally to the TCO. The TCO would enter these into the firing solution computer with the dials and the computer would spit out a solution. From there the solution was sent into the specified torpedo tubes. The tubes could be fired manually in the torpedo rooms, or they could be fired from the conning tower computer. (more info on how the tubes and calculator worked here http://www.ubootwaffe.pl/en/u-boats/...german-u-boats )

If you have the movie Das Boot, during the convoy attack scene you can see this series of events unfolding. If you do not have Das Boot, I highly recommend you get a copy and watch it. They used many U-boat crew members as consultants, and had the interior of the U-boat recreated nut and bolt from one of the original ship yards.

Many here like to do the solutions themselves. It makes it a bit more challenging. Was it historically accurate for the captain to calculate the solution? No, especially since there was a computer, not a human, doing the calculations.

12-03-13, 04:19 PM	#3
the dark knight Bosun Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Blue Springs, MO Posts: 64 Downloads: 16 Uploads: 0	To answer your question, not really. Some captains might have made the calculations on their own. How an attack in real life worked was like this: captain would call to action stations. Then the captain, and one to two officers would come into the conning tower. One officer (the torpedo control officer) would occupy his station at the firing solution computer. The captain would watch the target and convey target speed, range, and heading as well as the U-boat's own heading and speed verbally to the TCO. The TCO would enter these into the firing solution computer with the dials and the computer would spit out a solution. From there the solution was sent into the specified torpedo tubes. The tubes could be fired manually in the torpedo rooms, or they could be fired from the conning tower computer. (more info on how the tubes and calculator worked here http://www.ubootwaffe.pl/en/u-boats/...german-u-boats ) If you have the movie Das Boot, during the convoy attack scene you can see this series of events unfolding. If you do not have Das Boot, I highly recommend you get a copy and watch it. They used many U-boat crew members as consultants, and had the interior of the U-boat recreated nut and bolt from one of the original ship yards. Many here like to do the solutions themselves. It makes it a bit more challenging. Was it historically accurate for the captain to calculate the solution? No, especially since there was a computer, not a human, doing the calculations. __________________ Life is a matter of luck, and the odds in favor of success are no way enhanced by extreme caution. - Erich Topp Last edited by the dark knight; 12-03-13 at 06:22 PM.