The TDC is overrated/sheer luck shot?

[Howard313]

Every once in a while between all the light-boat incidents and accidental beaching I actually manage to do something right.

The Image above was taken seconds after a miracle happened. Patrol 6, I was traveling through scapa flow on my way to my favorite hunting grounds when my sonar-man picks up a merchant heading toward me.

Now usually:
Heavy Rains + Heavy Fog + Heavy Winds = No attempting to shoot at the floaty things that BDU doesn't like.

Also I'm not the best manual TDC man. My average shots go like this.

1. Get the data to the best of my abilities, I usually double check myself twice.
2. Fire a torpedo that religiously always goes a few meters behind my intended target.
3. Re-position my gyroscope to be aiming in front of the merchant to compensate for my poor aiming abilities.
4. Fire a torpedo that hits the ship.

Only one time have I managed to hit my intended target the first time with the tdc, and it was a dud.

And that's peak weather conditions.

Now don't ask me why I decided to go after this one. It could've been the fact that I wasn't thinking straight, or the fact that I hadn't got a single kill yet that patrol. But I did.

I was about 500-450m away (I didn't even bother collecting his data so this is just a rough estimate.) and he was about to pass right in front of me. I didn't bother fooling with my TDC because there was no way I was going to get an accurate reading in this weather. Despite this I did actually bother with setting my torpedo.

• Fast Speed setting
• Impact only
• Gyro angle 0

Open Torpedo Tube
Torpedo Los!

The torpedo launched out the front and I already knew....there's no way this is going to work, I can't even hit them in nice weather WITH the tdc how is this one going to..."Torpedo Impact!"



The ship slowly grinded to a halt and I hit it with my stern torpedo to finish it off a few minutes later. Sometimes you get lucky I guess.

[Kip336]

Sounds like me, yet I can't even manage to rack in the "Sheer luck shots"

[postalbyke]

you had a good-luck "fast 90" shot!
I highly recommend it, it's improved my kill:attack ratio phenomenally.
just make sure he's going to be 90 degrees AOB when he passes right in front of you, then check out your handy cheat-sheet, and fire away.

90% of the time, all the time!

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by Howard313

Sometimes you get lucky I guess.

Better lucky than good... Congrats!

[sublynx]

Originally Posted by Howard313

1. Get the data to the best of my abilities, I usually double check myself twice.
2. Fire a torpedo that religiously always goes a few meters behind my intended target.
3. Re-position my gyroscope to be aiming in front of the merchant to compensate for my poor aiming abilities.
4. Fire a torpedo that hits the ship.

Your doing alright - I think this kind of method is still used in real life! They might shoot one just in front of the bow of the ship and one just slightly off the stern of the ship and one in the middle. Two torpedoes will hit somewhere for sure, one will miss for sure - two hits sink almost anything. But the estimations have to be reasonably close to reality. And in your case they are close to reality, because your usual first torpedo misses just a little. Just keep sinking them!

[pickinthebanjo]

I find the most important part is getting the ships speed correct, from there just set yourself up for a 90 degree shot at around 800m and you should be fine so long as the ship is not going to fast.

[benitorios]

Originally Posted by Howard313

Fire a torpedo that religiously always goes a few meters behind my intended target.

Not sure if that could be the problem, but always make sure to open the torp tube before you press fire. Otherwise you lose a few seconds that make a difference between a hit or a miss.

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by benitorios

...always make sure to open the torp tube before you press fire. Otherwise you lose a few seconds that make a difference between a hit or a miss.

Good advice!

[Lord_magerius]

I'd take luck over skill any day. You might be able to set up the perfect shot at 5000m in a storm but all it comes down to is luck really. I can't actually count the amount of times where I've got a kill through luck rather than skilfully hunting a target. Though saying that, once you start getting those lucky kills the skilful shots follow as you know what to do in those situations. Line her up the best you can, fire, dive, wait for the outcome

[ALOTEF]

I sank 214,000 tons today!
.
.
.
Pity all 214,000 of those tons were my torpedoes only. :P

Seriously, every shot I fire after calculating exactly with the TDC I miss. I'm terrible! I must keep up the practice, because usually I just rely on my eyes and my gut which works just fine, but I'd like to try something a little more challenging, mathematical and realistic. I understand that in 1941, the experten didn't just point their VIIc and shoot. =p

[Osmium Steele]

It is not unusual at all, in my experience, for a single torpedo, launched with the TDC locked on target, to miss astern if the target is going faster than 5 knots and/or 1500+ meters distant. I certainly have never seen one miss ahead.

I ALWAYS aim ahead of the centerline in such situations. The further the distance, or higher the speed the more "kentucky windage" I give.