Sonar Kills

[Hardigen]

Most of you who are quite experienced might have done this but this was my first attempt, A few weeks ago I was sailing to my Area of Operations in the South China sea, when to my luck a convoy was heading right in my direction. I drew a line of its prospective path from the tail on the mark on the map and set myself up at 90 degrees from that mark about 1500 yards north of it .When the sonar was giving the black lines denoting the ship sounds I took one of the most prominent and placed a X at the very tip and timed 3 minutes got the sonar to update and placed another X , measured and got 950 yards (9 and a half knots) drew a line through the two Xs and found the line running more or less parallel with the line of the probable track of the convoy. Again taking times it eventually it worked out the convoy was doing 10 knots with a slight alteration to course. I moved 500yards closer due to a track of one of the escorts was gonna run over me . Then I drew an attack triangle from the speed of the convoy and the speed of the torps and got 19 degrees, so I drew a 19 degree line from the subs course on the starboard side and waited until a black line from the sonar went on it ( Do not turn on the Position Keeper otherwise your torps will not run straight ) I fired two torpedoes, then the sonar marks were starting to become quite thick over the 19 degree line I drew so I let loose two more and waited, thinking like you do I,ve wasted 4 fish. Anyhow I got three hits and sunk two ships One was over 3000 yards probably the first ship on the 19 degree line . One torp either missed or was a dud The two marks on the map denoting sunk ships were GRAY and not RED but they were registered in the Captains log . Never once did I raise the scope and I was never pinged by any Escorts I went deep and silent and moved away because the convoy would have dispersed and not only that I was low on fish . To all you valiant subbers try it ,it worked for me ,whether it works the next time I don,t know ! I,m sure the more Knowledgeable guys would know whether it happened in WW2. Good Hunting to all Cheers H

[torpedobait]

My method is much more crude, but effective especially when rain or fog makes it impossible to visually identify a target outside of 500 yards. I first estimate a course for the target (easier if you have radar installed) and maneuver so I am submerged approximately 600 yards perpendicular to its course. Being submerged allows the sonar operator to be effective. I know from experience that a MK14 at high speed will travel 700 yards in about 20 seconds, so I need to know the firing point that will intercept a target with a straight run fish dead ahead and 700 yards out. I estimate the speed of the target based on sonar reports and observation through the Attack Map to see how long it takes to travel 10 degrees on the Attack Map. I can then guestimate what angle the target should be at to make the connection with the fish. I use a combination of the sonar operator following the target to get bearing changes and the Attack Map. Also, even though the periscope is visually useless, if the estimated torpedo track on the Attack Map is not straight ahead (relative bearing zero) I adjust the periscope position until the track line is dead ahead. This ensures a straight shot, all other things being equal. So, if the target covers 20 degrees of arc in say, 20 seconds, I will fire when the target is 20 degrees from dead ahead. I tried working up a table for torpedo speed (electrics run much slower) and target speeds, but it got to be too much work. I could be more scientific about it, but gut feel and dead reckoning works pretty well.

[Sniper297]

Actually a bit over 500 yards in 20 seconds for the MK 14 on high speed.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=219562

Big sonar cheat when playing with realistic targeting - in real life every time you ping with active sonar, anyone in range with a hydrophone can hear it and get a bearing on you. The game didn't program that in, you can ping destroyers constantly and they never hear it. So to get an accurate range line up the bearing, hit the lower left switch to ping, then the lower right to send range and bearing to TDC. Even if it's way beyond the 5000 yard max range on the indicator, it will display in the message window and on the TDC.

[Hardigen]

Its good to hear how you have managed it ,I,ve got a new sub and a new crew starting from scratch so have no radar ( lost my other boat to enemy action). I found on SH5 if you pan your scope round the torpedo track follows it ,so you can fire by your bearing once you get a feeling for it. The method I used in SH4 is dead easy, you don,t need the position keeper or the TDC , you don,t need to calculate the distance. Provided the torps run straight and the target is within the torpedo range. To get the angle to fire the fish go to a position on the map where the Latitude and Longitude lines cross. Starting from the intersection draw a vertical line denoting the target speed ie 12 knots= 12miles, fix the line then move the cursor to the bottom of the line and pull it off the intersection, the distance just measured will remain the same, if you don,t do that when you come to draw your horizontal line for the torpedo speed ,it,ll drag it along . Put the speeds down and measure the angle with the protractor. It will only work of course providing you,re at right angles to the target . I do not know whether I hit 3 ships and sunk 2, or one ship got hit by 2 fish. Anyhow its 2-0 to the US navy H