basic hydrophopne tutorial

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by derrinurban

Once I first hear a contact, I surface and head straight for him, at standard or full. After running on surface for 15-20 mins., I submerge and listen again. I now take note of which side of 000 the contact is at now. This tells me the rough direction he is heading.

The problem with that approach is that 20 minutes-at-full speed later you are almost sure to be where the target is not, because you haven't gathered any intelligence before starting the run, and are pretty much hoping to be lucky.

Why not stay submerged and let the shift in angle tell you the rough direction to start with? Takes 1 to 10 minutes of game time, and at least tells you up front whether he is moving to your port or starboard. At the same time, the speed at which the target direction changes may give you a sense of proximity.

Also, if you are tracking a target that BdU informed you about, you already know the approximate speed and direction. Using that and the angle change over 10 minutes, you can in fact calculate a rough position and heading. At least enough to more than double your chances of finding him.

Armed with that first intelligence, then you make a 10-12 minute run on the surface (or less if you sense he is closer), rinse and repeat.

The good thing is that if you run your game at TC1 once you get into a tactical situation, you have a wealth of time to weigh data, think things through, fiddle around with the calculator, look up advice here on the forum. A merchant moving at 5 knots is going to the bottom, period, so there is no reason to be impatient.