Diving Stations

[Payoff]

I am curious to see if SHIV will FORCE us to man the dive planes and ballast valve set while on surface, as in SHIII. I never understood this. In the books and movies I've read/seen it's usually the watch crew's function to man those stations. Remember the young kid in "Das Boot" Uncut who calls an alarm because of a seagull? Jurgen shakes him down pretty good about what type of plane it was while he is manning the (aft?) dive planes. Werner speaks of this as well in "Iron Coffins". I just thought it was a waste of three good hands that could be resting or doing something else, especially in the smaller boats. I would think they could program the watch crew to go directly to dive planes, helm & valve set when ordering a dive, instead of crew quarters, or TORPEDO ROOM (I hate when that happens)? Did U.S. subs handle this differently?



hits enter key hoping devs are peeking

[Sailor Steve]

Good point! It's been a year-and-a-half and I never thought of that; but you're right. At first I was just thinking of seeing the men at the planes, and that there was no way to fix that, but I remembered that they're only there if you have them there, and you have to have them there because it increases the effeciency of the compartment. Again you're right; they shouldn't be there on the surface, even more so in SH4 because in U.S. fleet boats the bow planes are retracted vertically and can't be used at all. In fact, more than one boat had the bow planes damaged and either couldn't get them down so diving was more difficult, or couldn't get them up so they caused excess drag while surfaced.

Also I hope they put in the helmsman this time.

[AVGWarhawk]

Yes, somethings still need a tweek or two. For instance I have a watchman and when I surface he does not always to got the watch. I end up with 4 dudes in blue and two are blind. So off I go to start micro managing

[Sailor Steve]

"...does not always"? The officers NEVER go on watch until you make them. Likewise unrated petty officers don't switch from the engine to the motor room without being told, whereas engine-rated POs and ALL regular enlisted make the switch automatically.

Weird, and desperately in need of a fix.

On the other hand, it looks like SH4 will allow you to set standard watches, so all crew will rotate on a set schedule.

[Payoff]

Sailor Steve
Also I hope they put in the helmsman this time.

I agree. It always looks a little silly making turns with nobody there.
I ran a little test today. Started a new career, and just for squirts and giggles, pulled the sailors out of the control room leaving only the officers, before leaving base. When I started in my subpen, sure enough the sailors were absent from diving stations. I ordered periscope depth. I thought I would get the obligatory "Not enough crew in yada yada . ." message, but the chief responded, and the planes functioned by themselves diving the boat. I dont know what the crew efficiency level was because I use the "Longer U-Boat Repair Times" mod religiously, which disables the green bar. I went all over the boat and came back and the crew was still not present, although the compartment was fully functional. Then when I went to the Crew Management screen, the crew was warped to the Control Room like a magnet, and super glued to those positions. So it seems this issue is tied directly to that screen. :hmm: Maybe there's a mod in there somewhere, itching to get out.

[Capt. D]

Real good points.

When reading the outline/interview on SHIV I took the liberty to think that setting watches would also involve where the men would be during different times of their watch. Ex. lookouts most times where the ones - when the order to dive came - went directly from the periscope sheers to the control room and the fore and aft dive planes. The OOD - though the last to leave the bridge - went to his assigned station ex. the diving officer - if the OOD - would go directly to his station in the control room or the Officer whos funtion was the TDC, would go to the Conning Tower if the dive involved an attack.

I hope that this is part of the watch set. In SHIII too much is involved in getting the stations maned, and as has been noted previously, some functions happen without men even at the station.

Though US Boats were bigger than U-Boats and more men manned stations - the same procedures were needed to "drive" the boat either on the surface or submerged - during normal cruising or during an attack. The Captain never had to order men to man the planes or the dive station etc. This was automatic per each mans assigned function on the sub.

Hopefully this is incompassed in the watch setting feature the Dev Team has said would be part of the sim.


Happy Hunting