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tAKticool47 · 11-05-18, 07:18 AM

When you think about the performance of torpedoes, it helps to use the analogy of a hi-performance car engine.

The higher the speed of the torpedo, the lower the range it will have AND the more noise it will be. Kind of like having a V8 Corvette... when you go faster, you burn more gas (your MPG goes down) and your engine is going to be a lot louder.

For torpedoes, that can mean a lot of things. The MK48 ADCAP is a good example... it's range is just over 30% more at slow-speed than max speed, PLUS, it's significantly quieter. You can show yourself this by making some "training missions" and with truth on, watching how much longer it takes for an enemy ship to detect the torpedo and start moving out of the way/etc. This can be particularly important in close range scenarios because if you're within 10 miles, and Russian subs are around, it seems like as soon as you let an ADCAP rip (at 55kts), they start slinging Shkvals at you and at 200kts, they get you very quickly. But a slow ADCAP can get much, much closer to the target before they detect it.

Now the one thing about MK48 ADCAPs the game doesn't model is really how intelligent they actually are. With the wire connected, the torpedo reports it's status all the time. It will actually report to the sub when it detects the enemy sub, then it will calculate the targets course & speed and the distance between the target and torpedo, it will report that, and then it will calculate the best intercept course (this is called "Range Gating") and maneuver to intercept--- it also will adjust it's speed multiple times, increasing speeds a few times along the process or decreasing speeds (if it were to miss or lose track) -- and the operator can actually make changes on the fly. The game lets you of course Enable/Pre-Enable/Shut-Down, but in real life you can change the speeds on the fly (Start Lo-speed for example [for max range/stealth], Kick to Medium speed when the enemy detects the torpedo, kick to high/max when it closes into terminal homing etc.)

And of course, the fleet is now equipped with the Mod-7 CBASS (It's my understanding that they try to equip every sub with at least SOME Mod-7s when they deploy) which have more processing power and sensor/hardware than any torpedo on the planet. These things *do not miss*.

Another thing to consider is how you employ your countermeasures. In the game of course, "passive countermeasure" for "passive torpedo" and "active countermeasure" for "active torpedo" -- in real life , there are specific and complicated countermeasure employment sequences. There are acoustic decoys (designed to emit noise and fool a passive sensor into believing it's the sub) and jammers (which put walls of popping bubbles in the area to reflect the active pings of a torpedo and diffuse them away from the torpedo. I am pretty sure you generally want to drop a decoy into the water (to emit sound) and then as you speed up, turn, and probably dive, you'd drop a jammer to put up a sonic "wall" between the torpedo and your sub. I don't think the game is modeled quite so sophistcatedly.

And last- wire-guided torpedoes.... to again use the MK48 ADCAP for example. The torpedo itself is packed with 10 miles of wire. The submarine connects another 10+ mile spool to the torpedo's own spool, and it gets threaded through the door inside the torpedo room (and connected into the computer). The outer doors (Muzzles) get opened, the torpedo gets fired, and the wire starts spooling out. The muzzle doors have to stay open to continue using the wire. Physically opening the door does put noise into the water (although the Virginia and Seawolf classes have a different setup for opening the doors and are much, much quieter) but once it's opened, the benefits of the wire far outweigh any possible flow-noise associated with the open muzzles. Of course there is SOME flow-noise so you wouldn't want to drive around with your outer doors open all the time. And finally, if you close the door with the wire still intact, it cuts the wire. But that doesn't mean the torpedo "dies", it just continues doing whatever it was programmed to do before the wire was cut. But WITH the wire, it's basically like a remote-control-torpedo.

11-05-18, 07:18 AM	#6
tAKticool47 Bosun Join Date: Nov 2016 Location: Nature Coast Posts: 61 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Torps are a lot like hot-rod engines When you think about the performance of torpedoes, it helps to use the analogy of a hi-performance car engine. The higher the speed of the torpedo, the lower the range it will have AND the more noise it will be. Kind of like having a V8 Corvette... when you go faster, you burn more gas (your MPG goes down) and your engine is going to be a lot louder. For torpedoes, that can mean a lot of things. The MK48 ADCAP is a good example... it's range is just over 30% more at slow-speed than max speed, PLUS, it's significantly quieter. You can show yourself this by making some "training missions" and with truth on, watching how much longer it takes for an enemy ship to detect the torpedo and start moving out of the way/etc. This can be particularly important in close range scenarios because if you're within 10 miles, and Russian subs are around, it seems like as soon as you let an ADCAP rip (at 55kts), they start slinging Shkvals at you and at 200kts, they get you very quickly. But a slow ADCAP can get much, much closer to the target before they detect it. Now the one thing about MK48 ADCAPs the game doesn't model is really how intelligent they actually are. With the wire connected, the torpedo reports it's status all the time. It will actually report to the sub when it detects the enemy sub, then it will calculate the targets course & speed and the distance between the target and torpedo, it will report that, and then it will calculate the best intercept course (this is called "Range Gating") and maneuver to intercept--- it also will adjust it's speed multiple times, increasing speeds a few times along the process or decreasing speeds (if it were to miss or lose track) -- and the operator can actually make changes on the fly. The game lets you of course Enable/Pre-Enable/Shut-Down, but in real life you can change the speeds on the fly (Start Lo-speed for example [for max range/stealth], Kick to Medium speed when the enemy detects the torpedo, kick to high/max when it closes into terminal homing etc.) And of course, the fleet is now equipped with the Mod-7 CBASS (It's my understanding that they try to equip every sub with at least SOME Mod-7s when they deploy) which have more processing power and sensor/hardware than any torpedo on the planet. These things do not miss. Another thing to consider is how you employ your countermeasures. In the game of course, "passive countermeasure" for "passive torpedo" and "active countermeasure" for "active torpedo" -- in real life , there are specific and complicated countermeasure employment sequences. There are acoustic decoys (designed to emit noise and fool a passive sensor into believing it's the sub) and jammers (which put walls of popping bubbles in the area to reflect the active pings of a torpedo and diffuse them away from the torpedo. I am pretty sure you generally want to drop a decoy into the water (to emit sound) and then as you speed up, turn, and probably dive, you'd drop a jammer to put up a sonic "wall" between the torpedo and your sub. I don't think the game is modeled quite so sophistcatedly. And last- wire-guided torpedoes.... to again use the MK48 ADCAP for example. The torpedo itself is packed with 10 miles of wire. The submarine connects another 10+ mile spool to the torpedo's own spool, and it gets threaded through the door inside the torpedo room (and connected into the computer). The outer doors (Muzzles) get opened, the torpedo gets fired, and the wire starts spooling out. The muzzle doors have to stay open to continue using the wire. Physically opening the door does put noise into the water (although the Virginia and Seawolf classes have a different setup for opening the doors and are much, much quieter) but once it's opened, the benefits of the wire far outweigh any possible flow-noise associated with the open muzzles. Of course there is SOME flow-noise so you wouldn't want to drive around with your outer doors open all the time. And finally, if you close the door with the wire still intact, it cuts the wire. But that doesn't mean the torpedo "dies", it just continues doing whatever it was programmed to do before the wire was cut. But WITH the wire, it's basically like a remote-control-torpedo.