[Rockin Robbins]

After escaping swdw's real short crash dive, gmuno's short gun battle with a BB and AVGWarhawk's close encounter of the worst kind, somehow Lt Lunkhead wangled a transfer to the Kraken. We had just abandoned ship on RFB when Beery bailed out and were trying out TM. Lunkhead figured this was a great time to check out WernerSobe's new sonar-only targeting technique. We join our correspondence with Ducimus after we all washed our shorts, cleaned the decks and aired out the boat:

OK, I'm playing with destroyers again. Here's something different. I was stalking radar contacts in fog, driving rain, 10 m/sec wind, overcast and daytime. Visibility is about 450 yards, sometimes less. I'm shooting torpedoes on sonar only and just sank 2 freighters that way, six torpedoes, 5 hits, thank you WernerSobe! Lunkhead seems to onto something here. Maybe all those incidents were just unfortunate accidents?

Two more radar contacts running six knots north, freighters, right? So I gave Lunkhead the con for sonar only approach. He set up ahead, 1000 yards off track and waited for stern shots. "Hehehehehehehehehehe!" Lunkhead gets on your nerves when he giggles like that. Watch the radar until they're a mile away. Submerge to periscope depth and acquire 'em on sonar. Wait for the bearing to be about 350 and it's time to start pinging. Ping. Ping. "Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!" Stuff it Lunkhead. Get him!

Sonar: "Target speeding up. Approaching fast!" Hmmmmmmm..... That's not very freighter-like conduct...
"Lunkhead, you idiot, you just pinged a destroyer!!!!! I have the con! Oh, @#$@#$%@!!! crash dive." At 110 ft or so hit full right rudder pull back to ahead 1/3 at 180 or so and straighen out the rudder. Ahhhhh a nice thermal layer, rig for silent running, hit the RPM at exactly 1000 RPM, the quietest (that isn't exactly 1/3 throttle, by the way Ducimus) and just wait to slink away.

"Somebody load Lunkhead into a torpedo tube and GET HIM OFF MY BRIDGE!!!"

Three minutes later here's that high speed freight train overhead and he's dropping ashcans right on top of me. Good thing I'm at 260 and have some time. Full left, ahead emergency for a couple seconds and back to 1000 RPM. The event camera came on so he must have been pretty close. He didn't ping once.

Lets go down to 300, change course 90º, lalalalalalalalalalalala. Freight train again. Here comes the depth charges. Right on top of me and I slink out again because depth is my buddy.

This has happened four times now in a 45 minute period. From the beginning mr destroyer has not pinged once. Unless he has Superman up there using his x-ray vision, this is totally impossible. I'm in lousy sonar conditions with a great thermal layer above me, silent running trying both 1000 RPM and your ahead 1/3. He follows me around like a good puppy dog.

Sorry Ducimus, that's way out of the line of possibility. Methinks the AI needs some tweaking. Even in GWX they have to ping you to find you running silent at 1 kt (although these depth charges don't seem as deadly as GWX).

Other than this event, I really have enjoyed TM. Coming from RFB I didn't really expect to, but it seems to me reality is well served here if you ignore Superman up there and Lunkhead down here. Have any kryptonite?

And that's the way it was: July 27, 1943.