The Humming Bird U-boat

[Der Teddy Bar]

There has been much discussion over how easily a WWII u-boat could achieve neutral buoyancy. Even when assuming it could be done all time the time, the fact is that it took time to achieve, and when you changed depth by say 10 metres, you would have to reconfigure the boat. The guys who did this were very good at it, but again, it still took time.

U-boats were actually never set for neutral buoyancy anyway, but to slightly positive buoyancy.

For the most part, a u-boat also never was just stationary for several reasons. A negative/positive buoyancy means that your sink/raise. But the main reason was control. With no forward motion you have virtually no control over your boat and can quite easily plummet out of control should a change is the water temperature or salinity occurs.

At periscope depth, the waves would easily bring your u-boat to the surface if you tried to hover like a humming bird.

The game play enhancement of not being able to just hover like a humming bird would be immense. Attacks would have to be planned to attain an attacking position instead of just rushing in, and ‘hanging’ around till the ships arrives.

[CCIP]

I vote to make it neccesary to run the boat at a minimum speed (say, about 1kt) to keep it stable.

[lafeeverted]

Humming birds are beautiful creatures - Uboots are not humming birds. No hovering please

[Der Teddy Bar]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I vote to make it neccesary to run the boat at a minimum speed (say, about 1kt) to keep it stable.

How about 2?

[CCIP]

I can live with 2. However, I had read (and I'll probably need to find that source again) that the slowest and most silent speed setting for U-boat electric engines is ~50rpm, which in SHIII equals about 1kt.

In either case, a slow sinking boat of any sort is better than a hoverboat.

[JScones]

Originally Posted by CCIP

In either case, a slow sinking boat of any sort is better than a hoverboat.

[VonHelsching]

IMHO, maintaining depth was one_of_those_minute_details that a u-boat captain didn't worry to fix them himself; So I vote to leave the humming bird alone.

I wouldn't like to forget this (minute detail) in the middle of the Atlantic with TC x256 while waiting for the mother_of_all_convoys and achieve crush depth in 1 minute of real time...

[The Noob]

In real, no submarine commander has to worry about keeping the depth.The chief has to do that.So its useless to simulate, because you would never notice it. :hmm:

But, at 0 knots, if you "Hover" for a while, the boat sould fall slowly yes.

And you can not go "Fall" while on surface, because the boats ballast tanks are filled with air.And while attaking underwater, you have to be carefull.

Thats it.

[donut]

When you use the(A) key to maintain depth,in real life, the dive officer,controls the depth. We just modded it so the Captain didn't have to tuck every one in bed. Let the dive Officer do his job.Why, oh why,go out of your way, to create more instability and hoop jumps.for the Captain. Strighten out Kiel Canal so that anyone can use it,plotting it, is hoop enough! Sunken ships look cool, if they can be spotted by watch crew. Otherwise, just another hoop, to stub your toe on. This is a game,Enjoy. Plus, in German waters, dont you think Germans were smart enough to remove hazerdious aids to navagation.Let Boot hover,if it has comperssed air for dive Officer to use. Real life;can't vote for this hoop.

[CybrSlydr]

Originally Posted by donut

When you use the(A) key to maintain depth,in real life, the dive officer,controls the depth. We just modded it so the Captain didn't have to tuck every one in bed. Let the dive Officer do his job.Why, oh why,go out of your way, to create more instability and hoop jumps.for the Captain. Strighten out Kiel Canal so that anyone can use it,plotting it, is hoop enough! Sunken ships look cool, if they can be spotted by watch crew. Otherwise, just another hoop, to stub your toe on. This is a game,Enjoy. Plus, in German waters, dont you think Germans were smart enough to remove hazerdious aids to navagation.Let Boot hover,if it has comperssed air for dive Officer to use. Real life;can't vote for this hoop.

Rock on brother!

[Floater]

It depends on your desire for realism. In real life, U-boats could not hover - without movement of water over the dive planes caused by motion of the boat, they would either sink or rise to the surface. The same goes for any submarines of the period.

Later boats had much more complex automated trim systems that allowed hovering, but this wasn't the case at any time near WWII. The only exception was when a boat found itself able to park on top of a thermal layer - this was a very rare thing.

Hover all you like, but please don't pretend it's historically accurate to be able to do that. If you want accuracy, maintain at least 2-3kts when submerged, especially when near the surface. The faster you go, the more chance the planesmen have of keeping you at your required depth.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Floater

Hover all you like, but please don't pretend it's historically accurate to be able to do that. If you want accuracy, maintain at least 2-3kts when submerged, especially when near the surface. The faster you go, the more chance the planesmen have of keeping you at your required depth.

And now it's my turn to say " Rock on, brother"



To each his own. NYGM TW is not really a mod for those who just want a 'hoopless' game to play, you know. But the hoops are where the feeling's at for some

[CWorth]

I to will add my vote for NO HOVER...

Make it so you must mantain some motion to keeo stable.

Though I have a feeling there will be many more no hover voters than will be keep the hover voters.

[Karl-Heinz Jaeger]

I gotta say NO HOVERING. I'm curious though, how do modern subs manage it? Anyone know?

[ironkross]

So if you get the warning "Not enough crew in engine compartment" the next thing that happens is your boat starts sinking. What if this happens at 16X TC? Will you sink before you have time to make the adjustments? Oops! Gotta go. Just finished the GW DL.