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Old 06-12-07, 10:44 AM   #54
don1reed
Ace of the Deep
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Valhalla: Silent Generation
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Quote:
How are you supposed to know you are at "Xray" (?) +11 and gmt -9, if your sub does not show up in the map?
I started from Oahu, H.I. timezone +10 http://www.epm.com/zonemap.jpg I'll post a timezone chart later today for GMT conversion.

I refitted at Midway Island. timezone +11.

A view of a timezone chart shows that almost all of Japan is in timezone (-9), my destination.

Navigation can also be accomplished by D'ed Reckoning (DR), that is:

Distance = Speed (in knots) x Time (in hours). You can reasonably calculate and predict where you're going to be in x amount of hours at y speed.

This is why the sim is easier than RL because there's no Set/Drift/Tide/Current/Deviation or Variation to contend with. Even with all of these obstacles eliminated, it will still add new dimensions and complexity to the game. You won't be able to kick back and relax, because now as navigator you'll be keeping a "sailor's eye" always peeled at the clock.

In response to your request: Base time and destination time are 6 timezones apart.

I left 30-14N 133-41E (near Japan heading back to homeport) at 0953 internal clock time (real time for the location = 0553 4 Apr 42).

Course 092T Speed 11kn. As luck would have it...it stayed overcast for 3 days when I spied a break in the clouds and took a moonsight.

Doing DR, it was 41 hours and 33 min. since my last known fix. D=SxT

D = 11kn x 41.55 = 457 nm. divided by 60 tells me I travelled 7° 37'.

133° 41'E + 7° 37' = assumed longitude of 141° 18'E which is still in time zone (-9).

The center of timezone (-9) is 135°E, it extends 7° 30' East and West. It extends from 127° 30'E to 142° 30'E

For testing purposes I still have the sub icon displayed. My real location was: 140° 24'E. There is a 54nm difference; however, using the observation scope I measured the moon's altitude as ~3° 30'. Using my navigation pgm I computed that the moon's intercept crossed my course line at 140° 33'...that's only 9nm from my true position. Thats totally satisfactory.

Not everyone has or can afford a celnav pgm on their cpu, so we've got to devise a sure-fire, less complicated method where anyone could get Lat/Long fixes without too much effort that'll scare 'em away.
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Last edited by don1reed; 06-12-07 at 11:31 AM.
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