SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - Does sitting on the bottom help you at all?

johnno74 · 05-19-07, 07:28 AM

In real life sitting on the bottom is NOT a guarantee you won't be picked up.

It reduces your signature for passive sonar (hydrophones) as you don't have any engines (or pumps, but pumps aren't modelled in SH3...) running, but it doesn't help you much against active sonar - the sound waves largely pass through the hull and bounce off the inside of the hull - its actually the trapped air pocket which creates the strong return, as mentioned here.

As mentioned on that link, thats how BOLD decoys worked - they create air bubbles which create a sonar return like a submarine.

05-19-07, 07:28 AM	#12
johnno74 Planesman Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 197 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	In real life sitting on the bottom is NOT a guarantee you won't be picked up. It reduces your signature for passive sonar (hydrophones) as you don't have any engines (or pumps, but pumps aren't modelled in SH3...) running, but it doesn't help you much against active sonar - the sound waves largely pass through the hull and bounce off the inside of the hull - its actually the trapped air pocket which creates the strong return, as mentioned here. As mentioned on that link, thats how BOLD decoys worked - they create air bubbles which create a sonar return like a submarine.