Uzo - its use in real life and in SH3

[Hitman]

in RL the uzo was pretty much the same as attackperiscope appart from being mounted on the bridge use while surfaced

Well, not exactly. The UZo was a pair of binoculars mounted on a pedestal in the bridge, and the only thing in common with the periscopes was its direct link with the TDC, meaning if you turn the UZO (Or periscope), the TDC gets automatically updated, as happens in the game (As long as the TDC switch is in locked position).

But the real life UZO had no scales at all in the field of view, just a vertical line because it was simply a bearing transmitter (An aiming tool). The distance to target was estimated by the IWO based on two parameters: A) Practice in seaman's eye, and B) Amount of the field of view covered by the target. For example, a target estimated at 100 metres long at 90º AOB would actually cover the full field of view at about 700 metres.

The AOB was estimated by plain seaman's eye, which was not that difficult with a bit of practice and considering that being a true binocular (As opposed to the binocular periscopes, which just refelected the same image to both oculars) it gave actual depth perception.

And finally, the speed was either obtained from the previous plot during the overhaul maneuver, or simply guesstimated by the bow & stern wake, parallel course or rate of approach (Again seaman's eye practice here)

The final conclusion for SH3 is that for a correct targeting at surface by night you will need either a LOT of practice (As it's actually more difficult to estimate distance and AOB in our limited 2D screens than it was in real life, plus we haven't gone through the Kriegsmarine training progam as real IWOs had) or a bit of help from your AI IWO.

Good hunting