Solid line at Own Ship stern instead of course?

ewjax · 04-15-07, 05:19 PM

Hi,

Back when I was pushing subs around the North Atlantic for a living, in the mid to late 80's, the waterfall sonar display (on the conn at least) for the BQR-21 system had a solid line present at own-ship's COURSE, not the reciprocal of the course as is shown on the 688 and SSN-21 waterfall displays in the Dangerous Waters game.

Two questions:

1. Is that really how the 688 and SSN21 systems are configured? Or is that a mistake in the game? I never served on either class and haven't seen their systems.

2. If that is how they really are set up on the 688 and SSN21 systems, can I ask if anyone knows why that change was made? What's the advantage of having the line at the stern rather than the bow? I lived and died by that display, I could glance at it and pretty much instantly create a mental picture in my head of the contact situation. The biggest clue I could get from it was whether the contacts were drawing forward or aft ... "all on the left are drawing left, all on the right are drawing right, let's go to PD". I grant you can do the same thing with the stern line, but it's so ingrained in me to see that line and think "O/S Course" that it is REALLY confusing to un-think that. Plus it looks just like the CEP plot if the line is drawn for OS course, rather than OS stern.

If entire generations of officers like me were trained to think of that line as O/S course, there had to be a compelling reason to change it to O/S stern. Anyone know what that might be?

Of course, I had most of my training on the Mk114 F/C system, and really miss the PK (Position-Keep) display on the 117, 118, and newer systems...stacking dots is for wussies...perhaps I'm equally dinosauric with wanting that waterfall to have the line at OS head rather than stern....

04-15-07, 05:19 PM	#1
ewjax Nub Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Solid line at Own Ship stern instead of course? Hi, Back when I was pushing subs around the North Atlantic for a living, in the mid to late 80's, the waterfall sonar display (on the conn at least) for the BQR-21 system had a solid line present at own-ship's COURSE, not the reciprocal of the course as is shown on the 688 and SSN-21 waterfall displays in the Dangerous Waters game. Two questions: 1. Is that really how the 688 and SSN21 systems are configured? Or is that a mistake in the game? I never served on either class and haven't seen their systems. 2. If that is how they really are set up on the 688 and SSN21 systems, can I ask if anyone knows why that change was made? What's the advantage of having the line at the stern rather than the bow? I lived and died by that display, I could glance at it and pretty much instantly create a mental picture in my head of the contact situation. The biggest clue I could get from it was whether the contacts were drawing forward or aft ... "all on the left are drawing left, all on the right are drawing right, let's go to PD". I grant you can do the same thing with the stern line, but it's so ingrained in me to see that line and think "O/S Course" that it is REALLY confusing to un-think that. Plus it looks just like the CEP plot if the line is drawn for OS course, rather than OS stern. If entire generations of officers like me were trained to think of that line as O/S course, there had to be a compelling reason to change it to O/S stern. Anyone know what that might be? Of course, I had most of my training on the Mk114 F/C system, and really miss the PK (Position-Keep) display on the 117, 118, and newer systems...stacking dots is for wussies...perhaps I'm equally dinosauric with wanting that waterfall to have the line at OS head rather than stern....