I wasn't going to mention this, but it seems appropriate in the context of the thread. I'm just learning the platforms at the moment, so all I'm doing is lots of quick missions without autocrew. I'm finding the FFG towed array quite a challenge, but that's a different story....
So. I was playing with a P3 East of the Falklands and given the small area I was searching, it didn't take me long to hear submarine noises. I got two DIFARs giving me a position, a contact on the MAD pass. I dropped a mark 50, which failed to hit anything, and then stuff got confused. Sound signature was consistent with a Kilo but I never got it pinned down exactly. There was a layer at about 500 feet, but I was also getting lots of torpedo signatures and others from US subs. I confess my sonar skills aren't up to making an accurate picture of the goings on below me, but I know not to fire into melee, so I circled around dropping deep and shallow buoys, trying to get enough of a picture of the tactical situation to be able to fire on the Kilo without hitting the US Sub [s].
Long story short, eventuallyt all I could hear were US subs, could have been a Los Angeles and a Seawolf or maybe it was just one and I never made a positive ID. Ieventually gave up, and before I did I hit Show truth and the Kilo was about ten miles away heading ENE.
Lessons learned? If I ever come aross anything like that again then I guess I'll fly an expanding search pattern and hope to either snot the escaping enemy or hear of his demise. I did briefly consider carpet bombing though
