One thing that is striking when you read the KTBs is how little recognition manuals are mentioned. With very few exceptions, either in the body of the KTB itself or in the accompanying Schußmeldungen (shooting reports) if they are included, you find the word “Ausdampfen”, mostly in relation to determining target speed. The translations on uboatarchive.net mostly give this as “matching”, but that’s not entirely accurate. Better would be “speed by constant bearing”. The procedure was just as Tonci shows in his video, albeit on the surface upon first sighting. In many cases it was done either directly ahead or behind the target, by simply matching the course and adjusting own speed until the target neither closed nor got further away. Time and time again you see “vorgesetzt, Kurs und Fahrt mit xxx Grad und x sm ausgedampft” (Got in front, matched course of xxx and speed of x knots). So if not sure of course and speed, simply accelerate and get in front as quick as you can, put them on your 180, and adjust course and speed while in front such that his bearing doesn’t change and he’s not getting closer or further away, pretty simple really!
Who needs a plotting party, a whole fire control team, a two-man TDC team, and a guy at the radar? Not the Germans! Simple relative angles and simple math with a slide rule or a table, and you’ve got all the information you need.
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