SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post

Steeltrap · 11-13-06, 01:30 AM

In reality a 5-6000 tonne merchant ship would be lucky to last 10 minutes after 2 torpedos, and in many cases went down in less than 5. Even a single torp would sink most. An important factor was cargo. Iron ore etc. made them sink like bricks, while volatile cargoes made them floating bombs.

The idea of putting 2-3 torps inot a modest sized merchant and waiting 30 minutes is a nonsense, but might be a consequence of nerfing the equally ridiculous stock damage model, where a BB would be sunk by 1-2 torps in a matter of minutes.

U-boat commanders would often fire a single torp at a target of around 5,000t to see what would happen, occasionally finishing them off with the deck gun or another torp is that proved necessary (the choice dictated by weather and tactical situations).

You can find plenty of descriptions of the sinking of merchant ships by survivors on the web. A sample of them will show you what I have written is pretty representative. Trouble is how to do that in the game without making other, more hardy ships, equally easy to sink.

11-13-06, 01:30 AM	#43
Steeltrap Grey Wolf Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 818 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	In reality a 5-6000 tonne merchant ship would be lucky to last 10 minutes after 2 torpedos, and in many cases went down in less than 5. Even a single torp would sink most. An important factor was cargo. Iron ore etc. made them sink like bricks, while volatile cargoes made them floating bombs. The idea of putting 2-3 torps inot a modest sized merchant and waiting 30 minutes is a nonsense, but might be a consequence of nerfing the equally ridiculous stock damage model, where a BB would be sunk by 1-2 torps in a matter of minutes. U-boat commanders would often fire a single torp at a target of around 5,000t to see what would happen, occasionally finishing them off with the deck gun or another torp is that proved necessary (the choice dictated by weather and tactical situations). You can find plenty of descriptions of the sinking of merchant ships by survivors on the web. A sample of them will show you what I have written is pretty representative. Trouble is how to do that in the game without making other, more hardy ships, equally easy to sink.