safe distance during approach

[kstanb]

in rough terms, what is a good, safe, distance to maintain while position my boat during approach for attacking a convoy/ freighter?


for some reason, most of the times I found a target, it is going away, then I have to maneuver and it is very hard without map updates, so 9 out of 10 I end up getting spotted



thanks

[maurice076]

Hi I usually stay 15-18km away.More during the day-good visibility anyway,less at night.If cannot see smoke just submerge and listen for their position.

Hope this helps.

[kstanb]

it helps, thanks

but the challenge is how to calculate enemy's course at those long ranges; you can barely see them

I know there is quite a bit of guesstimation, but I am poor at it

[propbeanie]

If you've got a convoy (using sonar), they're generally one of two speeds - which I'm forgetting now... 7 and 11 knots? But with the sonar, you can get a general idea of their direction of travel, and by their speed, sometimes an almost accurate route and speed. There are a couple-three sonar tracking tutorials on the site here, and you can get as involved in trigonometry as you want, or don't want (I don't - I am numerically challenged), but I sometimes use the sonar info to guess-timate a course and speed of a convoy. Chase for a while, stop and submerge, check again, lather rinse repeat. Shoot, hit, avoid...