about decoys

[AkbarGulag]

Originally Posted by Capt. Shark Bait

:hmm: , maybe the decoys in SH4 were meant to be like shooting junk out a torpedo tube?

Haha, I imagine its a leftover from SH3. I guess the developers didn't see the point in leaving something that was already created out.

[M. Sarsfield]

I think in the original SH you could jettison debris one time per engagement and it was a crap shoot whether they would take the bait or not, depending on how well they had you locked on - especially if three DD's were circling overhead.

[tater]

The US had such things, but the only refs I see to them at all are late 1944 (November on).

tater

[M. Sarsfield]

That makes sense, since U-505 was captured in June 1944. U.S. engineers probably liked the idea or at least decided to give it a try.

[tater]

Lockwood had them working on stuff long before U-505. BuOrd was not fast.

Actually, the USN was PISSED at the capture of U-505. There was simply too much of a chance the sub in town might have been observed by the germans. Had they seen it, they would have known that their codes were compromised. The Navy viewed that possibility as far more harmful than any possible gain from having the boat.



tater

[STEED]

I used them once and they were a bit of a flop your better off going deep.

[kikn79]

According to Sink 'em All by Charles Lockwood:

While at Pearl Harbor on April 19th, I took advantage of the opportunity to see test runs of a secret decoy intended to aid submarines in evading counterattacks by escort vessels. Skate and the destroyer escort, Whitman put on the show and, after the submarine acquired the proper technique, she succeeded in eluding the DE in both of the final runs. This was the gadget which I had first seen operating in a fresh water reservoir in August, 1944, and for which we had been praying ever since Its use in enemy waters might have saved the lives of hundreds of submariners and millions of dollars worth of submarines.

Chuck