Quote:
Originally Posted by ColonelSandersLite
I think you're right on paper except that the height of the antenna was such that maximum detection range and the horizon matched up.
So while it's possible to detect SJ-1's beams out to 50 miles or so on paper, it can only actually start picking up the top of a BB at 12 miles and vice versa due to line of sight through the surface of the ocean..
Then again, depending on how the beams bounce... I don't actually know the answer to that at all.
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You raise a valid point. So let's look at the ol' "ship over the horizon" problem. Using the equation for radar horizon found here:
http://www.rfcafe.com/references/ele...e-of-sight.htm - the radar horizon R=1.22*((emitter height)^1/2)+(rarget height height)^1/2)). If the radar emitter is 25 feet above the waterline and the detector antenna on a large target is 80 feet up (high on the mast), then the detector can sniff the emitter at 17 nm. But WW2 radar wasn't good enough to detect a ship's mast at that range - you need a more substantial piece of suprstructure to get a solid return. So let's say that superstructure starts at 50 feet above the waterline. Then the radar will get a solid return at just under 15 nm. Certainly nowhere near a 4-to-1 advantage. (1.16-to-1 actually.) But it still favors the detector.
German U-boat skippers, who faced a more technically advanced ASW opponent, often avoided using radar at all, because they felt it just broadcast their position. The US Submarine Service was never in that position. But, assuming that Japanese radar detection is modeled in SH4, or if you just want to play within historical limits, radar should be used with discretion in the later years.
EDIT: The numbers for radar performance from mercfulfate's reference seem to be in line with my Post-It note calculation.