Hmmm... The "O'Kane Method"
For those interested, my nod to O'Kane's tactics were sourced from the war patrols of the Wahoo and Tang books that O'Kane wrote. I think the Wahoo book goes into a little more detail on the firing methods he developed as an XO under Morton.
The one thing he wrote about that stood out in my mind did, in fact, involve overriding the PK. He ordered that a certain targetted bearing be held constant and then he would fire torpedos as points of interest passed the stationary aiming wire. I could quote the chapters and paragraphs but I'd have to go checkout those books again from the library.
However, I do not recall O'Kane EVER writing anything about range not being of importance. I think Robbins memory there is more likely being influenced based on my commentaries on zero-gyro angle shots.
Actually, I don't really care for (at all) the use of a table of lead angles in place of the TDC. To me that just seems silly. ...and to mention it in conjunction with O'Kane probably borders on insulting. The guy was clearly a TDC/PK wiz, and he used the device to its greatest effect. I do not recall O'Kane (in either book) ever referring to a degree lead table as he called his shots.
To the contrary, O'Kane wrote that he drilled continually, both himself and his crew, using a little ship on a Lazy-Susan to get better at estimating AoB. His practice of trying to limit observations to just a few seconds also suggests that he was relying on the PK and other devices to carefully track his prey.
I proposed to mimic SH3 Fast-90 tactics in SH4 in the second "O'Kane Tactics" link of the following thread (and there's a third link there to Robbins followup tutorial). I just liked the idea of giving O'Kane the nod for instilling in me the idea that US sub skippers could override the PK. When I read about that I thought, "Hmmm... Be neat if I could mimic that in SH4."
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=121929
I am pleased at least to see that O'Kane's name has stuck to the tactics described as it pays respect to a great American hero. However, it is starting to get a little too watered down in its presentation and anyone claiming to have "developed it" perhaps comes across as a little boastful. Fast-90 by it's very nature was a method to calibrate the TDC, didn't have anything to do with a lead degree table.
...all I was doing was reapplying what I originally picked up from Wazoo's manual on Fast-90 for SH3. So I wouldn't even go so far as to say that "I develped" or came up with anything special. My original suggestions for applying Fast-90 principles to SH4 did seem to mimic O'Kane to a degree (holding the bearing constant and firing as points passed the wire) so I think he rightly deserved a nod.
Also worth noting that I don't recall ever reading a book on German Uboat tactics that actually used the term "Fast-90", I believe the first and only time I ever saw that term used was in Wazoo's SH3 Manual Targeting Booklet and perhaps scattered here on the SH3 message boards. Someone correct me if you know of a valid historical reference (in fact, I'd love to read the book if it exists).