Listening to Sonar at Periscope Depth

[scrapser]

I know this has been discussed in other threads but wanted to make it a separate thread for visibility and hopefully the DEV team will read it.

I believe I read somewhere that US subs could not listen to sonar while at periscope depth and therefore this is not a bug but a realism feature. First, I find this odd since US subs hovered much deeper at P depth than U-boats so one would think using sonar would be easier for US subs. Either way, I think this should be something users can select as a realism option much like dud torpedoes or realistic load times.

I can't think of any sub sim where you could not use both while submerged.

scrapser

[U-Bones]

Originally Posted by scrapser

I know this has been discussed in other threads but wanted to make it a separate thread for visibility and hopefully the DEV team will read it.

I believe I read somewhere that US subs could not listen to sonar while at periscope depth and therefore this is not a bug but a realism feature. First, I find this odd since US subs hovered much deeper at P depth than U-boats so one would think using sonar would be easier for US subs. Either way, I think this should be something users can select as a realism option much like dud torpedoes or realistic load times.

I can't think of any sub sim where you could not use both while submerged.

scrapser

Sonar works whenever the heads are submerged. Period. If the head is in or near surface turbulance, it will have additional noise, if on the opposite side of a thermal, the sound wave will be degraded and reception will suffer.

As to using both sound and periscope at once in the game... Once you establish visual contact in game - all other contacts become meaningless. This makes sense (in game) if you are talking about a single contact, but the logic falls apart if you factor in a 2nd contact just out of visual range...

It's just the way the game works. Obviously, you can have both visual and sound contacts IRL, and when both refer to the same contact the sound data will be used to suppliment the visual data.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by U-Bones

Sonar works whenever the heads are submerged. Period. If the head is in or near surface turbulance, it will have additional noise, if on the opposite side of a thermal, the sound wave will be degraded and reception will suffer.

As to using both sound and periscope at once in the game... Once you establish visual contact in game - all other contacts become meaningless. This makes sense (in game) if you are talking about a single contact, but the logic falls apart if you factor in a 2nd contact just out of visual range...

It's just the way the game works. Obviously, you can have both visual and sound contacts IRL, and when both refer to the same contact the sound data will be used to suppliment the visual data.

Seein as how the sonar heads are on the bottom of the boat. Those funny balls hanging off the bottom. Youd better hope there submerged !

[Soundman]

Yes, I agree with bones. It should still work, but it may be so noisy as to be in all practicality, useless. I would liken it like to a radio station so far off, that you can't make out what is being said due to all the static.

[U-Bones]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Seein as how the sonar heads are on the bottom of the boat. Those funny balls hanging off the bottom. Youd better hope there submerged !

Actually some are not rigged on the bottom. Not sure if those danglers are for the passive or the active, I would guess passive.

[Bilge_Rat]

There are several threads that discussed this issue.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=112341

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111277

The hydrophones did work at PD in RL, although it is debatable how effective it was due to sonar conditions close to the surface.

[MikeJW]

They may not be that effective but the sonar operator could IRL hear DDs and track them for the captain.