the B's and H's..

[Mush Martin]

good show.
MM

[Gildor]

Think of it this way: your boat is the center of the universe. The compass has nothing to do with the tactical situation other than calculating howand when you will intercept your target.

The direction of your travel is the "heading". Everything else in relation to your boat is at a "bearing". Bow of your boat is 0, Aft of your boat is 180. Port is "left" (270), and Starboard is "right" (90).

I have a navy background and when I stood lookout duties I was use to calling contacts as Red 25 or Green 120 as opposed to bearings.

Red is port, green is starboard.

SO a contact would be something like "OOW, Starboard lookout, bearing Green 25 ship far" or something similar. That would mean a ship contact to the right of our heading by 25 degrees

[irish1958]

She's got it; I think she's got it; by god, she's got it!
The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain!
By god, she's got it!!!

[She-Wolf]

you are a cracking bunch.

I am going to hard copy some of the finer points you have explained so I can remind myself in the game - but already I see it will be easier to calculate what is where now that I understand that I am always 0. That is the key.

Gildor, best beloved ( Pete) was going on about the (more modern?) custom of indicating port or starboard. He not a sailor, but being quite a lot on ships that were using radar ( he worked for PlesseyMarine as an engineer), he knows a few things.

I am keen to get back in and practice my newly acquired knowledge now, but will have to wait til tomorrow night (grr)

thanks fellas

[minute]

Originally Posted by She-Wolf

yes, so if I am looking at a boat through the scope,say at 90, does that mean the boat I am looking at is east of me?

Yes, if by 'east of me' you mean "to my right". I'm not a native english speaker but as far as I understand 'East of me' can also mean "towards the geographical east".

The direction "towards the geographical east" is not an absolute bearing number. The bearing of something "towards the geographical east" depends on your heading as well but can be calculated as 90degrees minus current heading.

[She-Wolf]

thank you Minute. I was talking to Pete ( him who belonga me) about my better understanding, and he was explaining how I might report the position of a contact. His example was, that if I was going on a course of 70degrees, and the contact was reported at 230 degrees relative to me ( I understand that bit now thanks to you all), I would add the two sums to make 300 degrees, which would be the true(?) bearing of the contact. Zat right? I still have to find out about subtracting ( like the skip does in Das Boot), but Pete said that if I get a sum of more than 360, I simply subtract the 360. I can follow that!

[Steppenwolf]

Originally Posted by She-Wolf

His example was, that if I was going on a course of 70degrees, and the contact was reported at 230 degrees relative to me ( I understand that bit now thanks to you all), I would add the two sums to make 300 degrees, which would be the true(?) bearing of the contact.

That is correct.

[She-Wolf]

ahh.. ( satisfied sigh)

[CaptainAsh]

Originally Posted by She-Wolf

...but already I see it will be easier to calculate what is where now that I understand that I am always 0. That is the key.

So you missed the point actualy:rotfl:
The point is you don t have to calculate anything
Think in term of useful information.
When you re changing your course, what the important thing you want to know? where you are or where you want to go? Where you want to go of course... so your helm officer is giving you your heading. You don t need to calculate anything.
When your watch officer is reporting a contact, what is the more important thing to know right now? Where s it going or where is it? Where it is of course... so the watch officer is giving you the bearing of the contact.
You don t have to mixed heading and bearing consideration before ploting your interception path actualy.

[She-Wolf]

yes, ok, but if I have to report a contact to HQ ( or summat), how will I be able to tell them where the contact actually is? Perhaps that is not necessary in SH3, but I would like to know anyway. I do take your point though

[High Voltage]

Originally Posted by She-Wolf

yes, ok, but if I have to report a contact to HQ ( or summat), how will I be able to tell them where the contact actually is? Perhaps that is not necessary in SH3, but I would like to know anyway. I do take your point though

Well, for you to report where the contact is would take more than just heading and bearing, as you have not yet identified WHERE YOU ARE on the map. The values you would reporting would tell BDU in which direction (course) the target is travelling, but you would first have to give them a starting position via Latitude and Longitude so that they could then plot YOUR COURSE and from there figure out where the target is and is heading...

there are some out here in GWX who play with manual navigation, that is the map does not even show their sub icon, so they are forced to navigate either by using land reference points or celestial navigation...and that my dear, is a road you don't want to head down just yet...

Cheers,

the crew of U-333