Quote:
Originally Posted by Bothersome
Thanks Dread Knot that's good to know.
Thanks guys for your info and input on the attack.
One question eers75,
Do you have a general procedure for attacking the two ships simultaneously that is using manual targeting? For instance, if you knew the speed and the distance apart, do you have certain setups that you fire at per-determined angles or do you have to re-calculate and set up the TDC for the other target? Taking the time to set up the TDC is what I'm trying to avoid because by the time the set up is done, the firing is late.
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Actually to me this is the beautiful thing using the Okane shooting method. Its almost so easy that it feels like cheating almost. Ive actually been reading bits and pieces of his war patrols and I really see why he was one (the top I believe) of the most successful skippers in WW2.
So using the Okane method there are only a few things to keep in mind. Also there are a ton of better tutorials out there then what I can explain so im just going to give the highpoints here as im no expert.
1. Speed of convoy/ship (remember here that generally speaking convoys travel at the same speed just don't grab the speed of the escorts) so if you grab the speed of any merchant that will tell you the speed of all merchants and non-escort warships.
2. AOB = using Okane method is always a 90 degree angle from you so either 90 from your left or 90 from your right. Setting this up as the aob is as simple as taking your heading once you are in the correct position using Okane method of positioning yourself in a 90 degree intercept of either subtracting or adding 90 to your bow.
3. Range = Doesn't matter! Yes that's right you heard / read that correctly. Using Okane method you will set up a firing solution and when the ship crosses it, it doesn't matter if the ship is at 1000 or 6000 as the torpedo will intercept every point on the plot as the lead angle is built in to your range when you set it up.
So im not the best at teaching this as im still learning myself so I will let you know the steps I go through when attacking a convoy.
After spotting/detecting the convoy I plot the course of any merchant, then I grab the speed of any merchant. I draw out on the map a line of the course of the convoy that goes well ahead of the convoy. Then I speed ahead of the convoy far enough so I can position myself in position to be at a 90 degree intercept point. Once there im going to take my periscope up just enough so I can see the ticks on it. (doesn't even have to be above the waterline)
Then depending on if the convoy is coming from left-right or right-left I put the periscope at either 345 or 15 degrees. I put in the speed, aob, and maximum range which im using OTC 1.5 and its 6200.
Now im set up and its a waiting game of having my sound man tell me the bearing of either the closest merchant I want or what I typically do is use the sonar myself when ive got a very specific target in mind.
When the target crosses across 345 or 15 I fire, often I don't even raise the periscope if im in the middle of a convoy but I like to verify what im shooting so I do almost always raise it but just wanted you to know that using this method the periscope doesn't even have to be raised.
On multiple targets I accomplish this one of two ways which are both very quick and easy. The easiest is if the 2 targets I have are in line with each other I just fire when both go in front of either 345 or 15.
If they are separated a bit I will fire on the furthest target first when it crosses 345 or 15 with the slow speed torpedo and then I will quickly go to 5 degrees in front of my second and closer target and put the range in again for that bearing and use the fast speed on these torpedos for the second/closer target. I use 5 degrees ahead as by the time I position the periscope 5 degrees in front and click the range its usually crossing in front of my firing line. Remember here that when I do this that both targets will be fired on somewhere between 345 and 15 on the periscope. Example is the bow of my second target is at 005 so I will go to 010 and input the range of 6200 and when the part of the ship I want to hit crosses 010 I will fire on it.
Ive even used this method to fire on 3 targets at the same time with 2 fish each (when I get a sub that has 6 forward that is) and its that quick once you get the hang of this method. Using the Okane method to me the most important thing to me is getting the speed very accurate as your aob will always be 90 from left or right.
My longest kill using the Okane method is probably about 6000 out or so. Im sorry for the long post but wanted to explain myself clearly as I could. There are a ton of good tutorials in the stickies to get you better acquainted with this and other methods but I can tell you this method is so reliable that Im more surprised when I miss vs when I hit and before I used Okane method it was the exact opposite.
Hope this long post helps.