"yet if you look closely at it, some flag masts aren't visible at all......the flag is just waving in the breeze"
Biggest problem with using mast height at long ranges on a computer, a distant mast can be one pixel wide or zero pixels (invisible), never half a pixel or 3/4 pixel since computers don't do that. What would be a faint thin line in real life is not there on a computer simulation because of the display limitations.
I got interested in OTC after reading this old thread, so I downloaded it and am reading the docs now. My biggest objection to manual targeting has always been "too complicated" since in real life I would have an entire attack team keeping the plot, cranking inputs to the TDC, fiddling with slide rules and the IS/WAS, and of course setting the torpedo depth and opening the outer doors so I wouldn't have to do all that myself.
Reading the PDF on the omnimeter hasn't changed that opinion - it goes through calculating the range to the exact yard, then moving stuff on the slide rule to calculate AOB based on actual target length versus the visual apparent length. Assuming I've identified the target correctly, of course, which is difficult to impossible at long ranges.
The PDF doesn't mention the time factor, "The computer found range in the Position Keeper is 1468 yards to target. That’s reasonably accurate!"
AT THIS MOMENT it's accurate, whoops, the sub is moving and the target is moving, the range is constantly changing, by the time I make the adjustments on the omnimeter and enter the data into the TDC, that 1468 yards range is ancient history.
How do you compensate for the time factor? Or do you just accept that the data is no longer accurate but "close enough for government work"?
|