Quote:
Originally Posted by Zosimus
Personally I have found that the best way to hit multiple targets is to set yourself between the rows of ships. That way you can fire at a promising target with your fore slavo and another target with your aft. This only works if you're at a 90º angle.
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This is the only way to get the really juicy targets although not necessarily at 90 degrees. I prefer to get on a nearly parallel course as close to the centre of the convoy as possible - this makes it very easy to get an accurate measure of the convoy's speed - easy enough in the early years (even with a night attack on the surface) - even in later years it is possible to get into the middle of a slow convoy and play havoc.
After 1940 with armed merchants all around, surface attacks become very risky so this method is best used with a submerged attack on slow convoys and even then, too much time spent travelling with the periscope up or at anything faster than 1 Kt will attract the early attention of the escorts.
I rarely fire a torpedoe from within a convoy unless I am on a nearly parallel couse to the target at a distance of between 450 and 500 Metres - I have found that, after much practice, I can get the torpedoes to run at approximately 90 degrees to my course and score a crippling hit on the target. I know some regard this as 'firing from the hip' but I believe many of the more succseful WWII commanders used similar intuitive methods. In other words, many of their deliberations as to distance would have been the result of an inspired guess based on knowledge and experience.
It is essential to get the torpedoes out fast and then escape as quickly as possible - especially in the later years. Those targets that fail to sink are often crippled and can be found later well behind the main convoy to be finished off when the tubes have been reloaded.