The shadow zone and its mysterious nature

NFunky · 10-29-09, 11:45 AM

Hey all,

I've been cogitating on some of the aspects of serious sub-to-sub confrontations and thought of something nobody seems to have ever discussed here. It concerns the ever mysterious 'shadow zone' effect. This effect has been well described on this forum as it pertains to above-to-below layer detection, but what about the other way around? I would assume that there is a mirror of the shadow zone above the layer when talking about a sonar that is below "looking up" as it were. Does anybody know if this is true and if so, is it present in DW?

If this effect is present, it seems to me that it would open up some very interesting ASW tactics. For instance, a player who suspects his opponent is under the layer could sit in the shadow zone (i.e. as close to the top of the layer as possible) and dangle his TA underneath for a good long listen. Then, if his opponent goes above the layer it would be only a matter of seconds to duck under the layer and be in the shadow zone on the other side. Hell, the two subs could play hide and seek like this all day without firing a shot... Hmm, sounds a bit dull now I come to think about it, but dull in an interesting way if you know what I mean.

So in a nutshell, is the shadow zone effect limited to being below the layer for some reason or is it a mirrored effect that depends on which side of the layer the listener is on?

10-29-09, 11:45 AM	#1
NFunky Machinist's Mate Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 127 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	The shadow zone and its mysterious nature Hey all, I've been cogitating on some of the aspects of serious sub-to-sub confrontations and thought of something nobody seems to have ever discussed here. It concerns the ever mysterious 'shadow zone' effect. This effect has been well described on this forum as it pertains to above-to-below layer detection, but what about the other way around? I would assume that there is a mirror of the shadow zone above the layer when talking about a sonar that is below "looking up" as it were. Does anybody know if this is true and if so, is it present in DW? If this effect is present, it seems to me that it would open up some very interesting ASW tactics. For instance, a player who suspects his opponent is under the layer could sit in the shadow zone (i.e. as close to the top of the layer as possible) and dangle his TA underneath for a good long listen. Then, if his opponent goes above the layer it would be only a matter of seconds to duck under the layer and be in the shadow zone on the other side. Hell, the two subs could play hide and seek like this all day without firing a shot... Hmm, sounds a bit dull now I come to think about it, but dull in an interesting way if you know what I mean. So in a nutshell, is the shadow zone effect limited to being below the layer for some reason or is it a mirrored effect that depends on which side of the layer the listener is on?