Contact! What now?

[Maceaciadh]

well you guys are very technical about all this plotting lol i just draw a line along their course and double there speed, so a ship going at 8 Kts travels 16Km(an overestimate but its good to arrive early) then work out roughly when i will intercept that ship based on my distance (i always use full for intercepts far enough away, flank gives you 1-2 extra Kts for alot of fuel waste). once i get there, just dive and listen. i should get there ahead or right on time if i wasn't far away which can throw off your angles which are given to you very roughly

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by Maceaciadh

well you guys are very technical about all this plotting lol i just draw a line along their course and double there speed, so a ship going at 8 Kts travels 16Km(an overestimate but its good to arrive early) then work out roughly when i will intercept that ship based on my distance (i always use full for intercepts far enough away, flank gives you 1-2 extra Kts for alot of fuel waste). once i get there, just dive and listen. i should get there ahead or right on time if i wasn't far away which can throw off your angles which are given to you very roughly

Well, yeah, I'm nuts that way. Give me a ruler, pencil and a compass and I am happy.

This way does get to be the required way more or less if you want to get them from far away. I once did a intercept sprint of atleast 12 hours at full speed (16+kts, so atleast 350+ km to go ). And I got there ahead of time. (It did help that the contact actually moved at 4 kts, instead of max 8 kts. But I didn't know that.) Doubling the speeds like you did would make a very cumbersome plot. I would have to expand the size 12 times. And this is just a systematic way that works in all cases in the same amount of time.

You'll even be able to tell if you'll never reach the contact. Then the red circle will never touch the black line because you are too slow. There won't be a point B. Give up now!

[Maceaciadh]

well i just drag my waypoint to the rough bearing line then move up and down to acquire the intercept and see if i can reach it. I wont travel to anything that moves more than 150KM along its course because the inaccuracy of the bearing throws you off by too much unless its a convoy or task force. the bearing varies +or- 11 degrees so you may be outside hydrophone range when you get there and they can pass right by you

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by Maceaciadh

well i just drag my waypoint to the rough bearing line then move up and down to acquire the intercept and see if i can reach it. I wont travel to anything that moves more than 150KM along its course because the inaccuracy of the bearing throws you off by too much unless its a convoy or task force. the bearing varies +or- 11 degrees so you may be outside hydrophone range when you get there and they can pass right by you

Yup, but I take that into account too. The only gamble I make is that they don't make a course change. Because that can happen at any time. If I can't intercept them before they moved 170 km, then I leave them be. (it's the distance at which your hydrophone range won't fit into the 22.5 degree contact course wedge anymore)

[Maceaciadh]

Originally Posted by Pisces

Yup, but I take that into account too. The only gamble I make is that they don't make a course change. Because that can happen at any time. If I can't intercept them before they moved 170 km, then I leave them be. (it's the distance at which your hydrophone range won't fit into the 22.5 degree contact course wedge anymore)

nice to know 170KM is actually the distance that it will evade a 20KM circle at. never really bothered working it out even though it's a simple cosine rule lmao but i think i will stick to 150KM because we all know how dodgy a hydrophone can be at long range and bad weather. i have gotten contacts at around 22-23KM and not seen others until 16-17KM away from me(fyi i am at the right angle and they are not sneaking up behind me.i listen at all stop which i think/hope makes a difference from slow)

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by Maceaciadh

nice to know 170KM is actually the distance that it will evade a 20KM circle at. never really bothered working it out even though it's a simple cosine rule lmao but i think i will stick to 150KM because we all know how dodgy a hydrophone can be at long range and bad weather. i have gotten contacts at around 22-23KM and not seen others until 16-17KM away from me(fyi i am at the right angle and they are not sneaking up behind me.i listen at all stop which i think/hope makes a difference from slow)

Nope, 170 km goes with 33km radius circle. That's the max range if you listen yourself.

[Maceaciadh]

is that with the first type of hydrophone or a later improved one? well i dont listen myself, perhaps i should start though if your range is increasing by 50%!

edit: just worked it out now that after 102KM the ship could be outside a listening range of 20KM