Linear plotting of contacts on paper

[Puster Bill]

OK, the other day I was playing SHIII and I was trying to gain a decent firing position on a large merchant in bad weather (heavy fog, rain, etc). It was ahead of me, to the starboard, and on just about a parallel course.

Because I didn't want to stop or slow down (I was doing an average of 13 knots) to do my normal manual targeting with Hitman's excellent Kriegsmarine whiz-wheel, or to use my Pickett linear slide rule, this is what I did*:

I had the watch officer give me the range and bearing to the contact, and I started the stop watch. I then drew that observation on a piece of graph paper, using a ruler and a protractor. After 3 minutes and 15 seconds, I did the same thing. I then had his course, speed, AOB, and distance.

I plotted the contacts out, adjusted my course to be exactly parallel to his course, and fired a bow tube when the target was at a bearing of 89 degrees, and my stern tube (I don't do Type IX's) once he was at 91 degrees. He went down pretty quickly, and since this happen in the Minch**, I keep going at all ahead full.

My point is that actually plotting it out on paper is a fun and tactile way to experience manual targeting, and can be a useful check against using a whiz-wheel or one of the other methods of manual targeting. I used a cheap protractor and ruler that were made for kids. You don't need to use a maneuvering board either. In fact, for a short interval like 3:15 a regular piece of graph paper works fine.

*I figured out later on that I *COULD* have used the whiz-wheel, at least to get target speed. When I worked it out later on the wheel, I got a result of 6.5 knots. Target speed was actually 6 knots, and I was doing an 'average' of 13 knots (probably more like 12.5 knots) because of rough weather. I would have just subtracted the result from my speed, giving target speed.

** I like patrolling the Minch. You get the merchant traffic, but it doesn't seem like you get as many ASW patrols as the Channel or the Irish Sea.