question about torpedo depth & under the keel shots.

[ETR3(SS)]

An interesting test to say the least. Try it again in 44. The problems with the MK 14 torpedo are fixed then, or at least mostly worked out. The advice of the day (and here in game too) was don't use magnetic and set your fish shallow. Also try your test in a mission that you created so you can get the ideal control environment.

[Rockin Robbins]

I've found that the mag exploder isn't reliable no matter where the torpedo goes. I usually set it, but go for the impact explosion. Most everything sinks with two hits, 1/4 of the way forward of the stern and 1/4 of the way back from the bow, anyway.

Also the visual damage model is not related to the actual damage the target sustains. I've sunk lots of targets showing no visual damage at all! I've had some with a couple of huge holes just hang out forever and need another torpedo to sink them. Eye candy lies a lot!

In the real world, both the US and Germany concluded that their magnetic exploders were garbage and switched to an impact only strategy. Both ended up with under performing torpedoes with an explosive charge gauged to sink targets when exploded under the keel to break the back of the target. Both compensated by just shooting more torpedoes.

The US tried to compensate by introducing the Mark 16 torpedo with a larger explosive charge, but the Japanese ran out of fight before they could reach the field in quantity.

[Matthiu23]

Wow that sounds like a lot of difference.. water has a massive deterrence for explosive power so I would want it exploding under keel but as close to the ship as possible. There's an armor layer but you just need to get under that. Do that and the ship is taking on water big time. I heard its a good idea to set them 5 feet under keel but I had so many sail under the ship I said screw it and started setting for roughly 1.5- 3 ft ABOVE draft.. I wouldn't want to set it anything like 2 meters below or above. That's just not an accurate shot. And even setting it at draft can make them sail below the ship. There's also the issue of duds so in that case id rather it hit the bottom of the ship under the armor. My comfort zone is 1.5 feet above draft to I guess 2.5 ft.. that being said I guess 2 feet above draft would work great. This guy said 1.5 meters was perfect but I don't know. That's just too much variance. As i said, I want it blowing up touching the very bottom of the ship if possible. I don't want to be aiming at the armor layer. The ship in the torpedo sub school level is a good practice target. I was downing it in two torpedoes consistently and it calls for 3-4. Supposedly a well placed shot can take down any ship in one shot. It would probably take a few minutes for it to sink like that so one perfect shot to the bow and one center will do it. I was also doing it on 100% realism. Side note. You can get the crew to estimate speed by giving them a couple range measurements at about a minute apart. I noticed a lot of people are saying the crew won't do it but this is how I eventually was able to get them to do it. No more manual distance mapping to find speed. You don't even need to run the chronometer. I thought it had something to do with that but it doesn't. I want to be able to do everything with the sonar and mapping but I digress. Again my recommendation would be .7 meters above draft or about 2 ft. Actually I just read the guys experiment again and it looks like going slightly higher may work better but one time one of them impacted so let's go ahead and say 4 -4.5ft above is perfect? It's just interesting that the recommendation is 5 feet below but almost 5 feet above is what you want. Interesting about the 10' depth variance, that explains inconsistent results.

[Aktungbby]

Matthiu23! Like Rockin RoBBY I go for two contact shots generally set 2 meters above stated keel depth. That is because in SHV at least, some of the keel depths are not accurate as stated and the eels run under. The Ranger tanker shows 6 meters but only hits at three meters...