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Originally Posted by jazman
It's probably that in the exact mathematics it matters, but for practical purposes (here come the engineers!) it's a wash. I guess all the focus on range is because the lower the range, the greater the margin of error and still get hits.
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Well... not an engineer... but here comes the finance/programmer guy.
If target speed and course are constant, and intercept speed and course are constant, there's a trig solution that gives the third side of the triangle and thus calculate the intercept course. The three angles of the triangle never change as the torpedo approaches its target. The bearing to the target remains constant (you may have heard of the Constant Bearing Formula?) right up until impact. Since this solution never changes as the two objects converge you could infinitely expand the distance between the two and still score hits on a perfect 2D plane.
Likewise if you're running the bridge of a ship and you have a radar bearing on another ship and you notice that as you track that ship for 30 mins the range is steadily decreasing but the bearing is not changing what might that be telling you? (you're on a collision course)
There is one variable that does throw a wrench into the sub targeting though. The torpedo advance. The range doesn't matter commentaries relate only to low gyro angle shots. If you are shooting with more than a 3-5° gyro then your solution will be influenced by error in range estimation. If you typically shoot within the 1000-2000 meter range then set the TDC for 1500 and you don't have to worry too much about it if you keep your angles low.
Incidentally, I always thought it would be cool to drive a train. Then people could ask me what I do and I'd say, "I'm an Engineer"... and they'd say something like, "Oh, really? Mechanical or Electrical?" and I'd say, "Trains".