Deck Gun Tactics

[cleverusername]

Does anyone have advice on how to best use the deck gun? I'm running RFB and sometimes merchants are only disabled and don't sink. I don't want to waste too many torpedoes so the deck gun is a good way to finish them off.

Problem: Nearly every ship is armed with one or two big naval guns, and several smaller machine guns. The machine guns eat up my crew and the bigger guns punch right through the hull of my sub. How do I sink a disabled enemy merchant without being sunk by the return fire?

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by cleverusername

How do I sink a disabled enemy merchant without being sunk by the return fire?

Use a torpedo.

[Aramike]

Anyone know if there are ANY instances of a deck gun ACTUALLY being used to assist in sinking large targets?

[A Very Super Market]

You'd have to define "large" cargo ships definitely, the sub would wait for the men to clear the boat then surface to destroy it. It was part courtesy-part not get radio reported.

The ship would have been torped first, of course

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by A Very Super Market

You'd have to define "large" cargo ships definitely, the sub would wait for the men to clear the boat then surface to destroy it. It was part courtesy-part not get radio reported.

The ship would have been torped first, of course

Me's thinking anything over, say, 5k tons...

Good answer though.

[Orion2012]

Originally Posted by LukeFF

Use a torpedo.

Agreed. In the stock game where you could take a few hits, engaging from long range might work, but with RFB, it only takes a single shot from a merchant to have critical damage, and some dead crewman. Like Luke said, a close up torpedo shot is what I would do. I always try to hit the opposite end and side from my previous attack.

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Orion2012

Like Luke said, a close up torpedo shot is what I would do. I always try to hit the opposite end and side from my previous attack.

Yep, and that's where the stern tubes come in especially handy. One doesn't have to "waste" a torpedo from your "main" forward-firing tubes in order to get a crippled ship to sink. (After the war, the general consensus in the USN was that stern tubes weren't worth the trouble to install).

[A Very Super Market]

Well after the war, nukes were developed on subs, so yeah....

Do subs nowadays still use torpedoes?

[SandyCaesar]

Definitely. Wire-guided passive/active homing at 55knots and a 27-mile range, 650 pounds of PBXN...don't you wish your fleet boat had an ADCAP?

Check out the DW forum.

So yes, subs today do carry torps. Comparatively few carry missiles, and even fewer use nuclear-capable missiles.

[banjo]

Early in the war (in this game) many Jap ships did not have any guns. Later on most are armed. What I do is carefully scan the ship (and I am usually inside 800 yards when I fire torpedos). If after one or two torpedos the ship is still making way and showing no sign of immediate sinking, and if I see no guns, I will surface and finish her off with the deck gun. I find the 'aim at waterline' function to be the most effective. Also, while I am surfacing I watch the ship thru the periscope with one finger on the crash dive button. Once in a while I don't see machine gunners until they open up. That's when I crash dive. I am currently using TMO and the machine guns are not deadly, but I treat them as if they are. Never surface within gun range of any ship that has a gun. If you have external camera enabled, and you don't mind cheating a little, you can also do a 'fly by' before you surface and check the ship out at very close range.

[SteamWake]

Frankly if I find myself in a situation where I need to use the deck gun, I figure I screwed up somewhere.

If it is a stubborn merchant that refuses do go down I will engage with the gun but from a good range out 3,000 yards or so. There not very good shots.

[banjo]

Well Steam, I look at it differently. I use the deck gun to conserve torpedos thereby possibly increasing my tonnage. Why use another torpedo to finish off a wounded merchant when the gun can do it.

[Orion2012]

Originally Posted by banjo

Well Steam, I look at it differently. I use the deck gun to conserve torpedos thereby possibly increasing my tonnage. Why use another torpedo to finish off a wounded merchant when the gun can do it.

I think it depends on a couple of things. First off, what mod configuration you run if any. With RFB a single shot from a merchant can make you the USS Swiss Cheese, and if that happens, who cares how man fish you have remaining, there all with you, on the bottom.

Also, if the deck gun were implemented properly. It would take time to prepare the gun, as well as set the ammo chain up. Some of the ammo would have to be lifted into the conning tower and out the back hatch for access to the deck gun. These shells weigh a few pounds and lifting them would take time. Plus, if an aircraft were to come along, you would either have to abandon the deck gun and dive without securing it, which would probably lead to it failing somehow, or you could take the time to secure it and possible lose your boat or some crewman. In SH4 you don't have to worry with any of this, you just surface and fire away, if an aircraft comes, just dive and wait it out.

Only good use I can see in the deck gun would be as a clothesline or a signal gun in case of emergency.

Edit: Not saying I haven't ever used it, but only when I have a air radar, the seas are less then 3-4 meters a second and I'm 100% certain it is unarmed.

[Satch]

For practce I tried sinking a fishing junk using the deck gun. I discovered that to change the elevation is nearly impossible. Pressing the up or down arrow moves the elevation so slow that it is impossible to use. I tried alt arrow, control arrow, shift arrow and nothing helps. Is there something I must do to enable manual elevating the gun?

Also the tonnage on those little fishing boats is all wrong. My 22 foot sail boat weighs a ton and those fishing junks are a good 50 feet so they should be at least 25 tons

I became so frustrated that I rammed it to sink it.

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Orion2012

Also, if the deck gun were implemented properly. It would take time to prepare the gun, as well as set the ammo chain up. Some of the ammo would have to be lifted into the conning tower and out the back hatch for access to the deck gun. These shells weigh a few pounds and lifting them would take time.

My favorite reference for this:

There was a ready locker for the 5" gun, on the deck, that provided a small, immediately available store of shells. When those rounds were exhausted ammo was passed up from below the crew's mess. For the aft 5" gun, on some boats, there was an ammo hatch located in the after port side of the crew's mess, through the pressure hull, to the after 5". There would be a loading party passing ammo from the magazine, which is below the living deck level to the ammo handlers loading it through the hatch. The standard procedure was to have a guy drop down below the crew's mess deck into the ammo locker. He passed ammo up to guys in the mess who would pass it forward to the Control Room. In the forward section was access to the gun loading trunk, passing the ammo overhead, up through the hatch, guys on the deck could reach down through the hatch in the forward sail and then pass it around the sail and aft to the gun. The job of passing the ammo up from the ammo locker or from the control room up through the ammo hatch was the job of the VERY strong. It didn't take many 65 pound shells being shoved up over your head to wear down even them.

Deck Fire Control System and Organization:
On battle surfacing, the 5"/25 crew comes topside through the conning tower hatch, drops down to the deck and the loaders open the ready locker to grab the shells as the rest position on the gun and train on the target. If the seas allowed, some of the guys could scramble up the ammo loading hatch in the forward overhead of the control room. The 5"/25 is manned by a gun captain, pointer, trainer, sight setter, and loader. The gunnery officer takes station in an elevated position in the periscope shears to direct the gun crew and to spot. The conning tower relays target range to the gunnery officer via the 7MC circuit. Ranges are obtained from the radar or the generating TDC on the cigarette deck. The sight setter sets in firing range and zero deflection angle for the first shot, then sets sights thereafter in accordance with spots received from the Gunnery Officer. Whistle signals used in conjunction with securing battle surface stations are:
1 blast = Cease fire,
2 blasts = Secure mount properly and lay below,
3 blasts = Cease fire and lay below immediately without securing the mount.

From http://www.bergall.org/320/patrol/deckguns.html