Other shipping affected by bad weather?

[bigboywooly]

Yes other ships are affected by bad weather
Have come across many ships struggling at low speed in rough seas

Rough seas will also affect torpedo stability on mag setting
I only use impact settings in high winds\seas

[kalkulator]

Ok I will make that a general rule of thumb then. Torpedoes on impact when in bad weather.

[Chock]

I've hit ships which subsequently sank in rough seas owing to getting swamped, where in good weather I suspect they might have been okay, or at least it certainly looked that way to me. Mind you, I am talking seriously bad weather where I was having difficulty maintaining contact by anything other than hydrophones and the external view. Which is why I had to watch them sail along, as there was no way I was even going to attempt a torpedo launch in that weather; the depth-keeping of the torpedoes would have been way off. And of course, no one in their right mind would have gone on deck to try and work the pop gun!

Chock

[seafarer]

And what really bites is when you damage a ship with that last eel. With the weather foul against you, no opportunity to use the deck gun to finish 'em off. Sometime later, she sinks, and even though still close by (within hydrophone range at least), you get NO CREDIT! Why, because the omnipotent AI has deemed that the weather did 'em in, not your torpedo blasting a bus sized hole in her hull.

I even trailed a group of three small coasties, running in line ahead off the New Jersey coast once in horrendous winter weather. Before I could overtake them and get into position, all 3 sank from the storm - their sad little wreck markings on the chart mocking me for the precious fuel I wasted trying to run them down.

[kalkulator]

Originally Posted by seafarer

I even trailed a group of three small coasties, running in line ahead off the New Jersey coast once in horrendous winter weather. Before I could overtake them and get into position, all 3 sank from the storm - their sad little wreck markings on the chart mocking me for the precious fuel I wasted trying to run them down.

I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh at you ...:rotfl: ... but that was pretty funny story. And I didn't even know that was possible!? Unharmed and without a damage, they can actually go down during a storm? This game is awesome.

[seafarer]

Go ahead and laugh - soon you'll have your share of your own moments to share with us and smile about.

If you use the external camera and watch some ships in really nasty weather, you will actually see them taking damage. Some will start to list sometimes, or get low by the bow or stern, or slow down to a crawl. Even, fires will break out on their own!

Of course, then you'll also see some little coastie, or a narrow beamed small warship, plowing along beam-on to monstrous waves, and think, what the... Since any ship not taking such waves bow on would surely be in BIG trouble.

There's a show on the Discovery channel here, "Deadliest Catch" that's been running for a fair number of years now. It follows the Alaskan crab fisheries in the Bering Sea. The various crab species are fished in the late fall, winter and early spring months, so the weather is, predicably, often unbelievably bad. Watching 90ft to 150ft ships, in seas that may reach 40ft (or one rogue wave caught on tape that had to be 60ft or more - rolled one of the ships clean onto her side, busted the captains ribs, shut off the engines when they lost oil pressure - she righted herself though and they got back without aid). Anyhow, it makes you appreciate how important a skilled helmsman is in heavy seas, and how much the sea can dictate what direction you WILL be steaming in for awhile. That aspect of sea conditons and navigation is not modeled in SHIII or SHIV.

I was once in the NE Pacific in a 210ft ship in 35-40ft seas - I cannot imagine hanging out in a storm on a u-boat conning tower - that must almost qualify as insane by some standards I'd suppose.

P.S. google for a web site with the key words "Heavy Seas" - amazing images!

examples:

[Rykaird]

Many a time in the typically rough weather off of the north Irish coast, I've picked up a hydrophone contact, mapped out my intercept point, and then sat there and waited, and waited, and waited, and the ship just never seems to get any closer. When I used to use the external camera, it would turn out to be some poor tramp steamer, nose buried in the high seas, prop spinning in the air, making a whopping quarter knot. She would be slowly sinking nose first.

I've restarted my career again (I still maintain that 1944 never arrives, because I've yet to see it) and this trip out, I was following my escort north out of Wilhelmshaven. The escort then turned east, beached itself on the bank and burned. Must have been pretty embarassing for him.

[Siara]

Reading this id like to ask another question:

Do the rough seas slow down the torpedos?

It looks to me that way. On numerous occasions i witnessed (even at the distance less than 1.5 km) that torpedos do not hit the ship in the intended point.

Sometimes when the seas are realy rough , they miss altogether.

Should i try deflection shot?

[U49]

I think it is more that rough sea affect the calculated speed of your target.

I usually aim (manual targeting) to much in front of my target, when we are in heavy seas

[minute]

I'm in early 1943. I love rough weather. Rough weather is my friend. Good weather is bad. Good weather has this things that fly and drop nasty stuff at my sub.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by seafarer

There's a show on the Discovery channel here, "Deadliest Catch" that's been running for a fair number of years now. It follows the Alaskan crab fisheries in the Bering Sea. The various crab species are fished in the late fall, winter and early spring months, so the weather is, predicably, often unbelievably bad. Watching 90ft to 150ft ships, in seas that may reach 40ft (or one rogue wave caught on tape that had to be 60ft or more - rolled one of the ships clean onto her side, busted the captains ribs, shut off the engines when they lost oil pressure - she righted herself though and they got back without aid). Anyhow, it makes you appreciate how important a skilled helmsman is in heavy seas, and how much the sea can dictate what direction you WILL be steaming in for awhile. That aspect of sea conditons and navigation is not modeled in SHIII or SHIV.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8hOai9hGQ

[seafarer]

Actually, I found the video I was remembering

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0aa_1178767829 (also on YouTube ).

The fishing vessel is the Aleutian Ballad, a 100ft Aft-wheel house crabber. They estimated the wave had to be more then 60ft or so.

[Ivan Putski]

I`m in a hell of a storm at the moment, 15 meters per sec. wind speed, doing all I can to make headway, just SE of Cork, Ireland. I`ve had several single contacts, but unable to close with them, visibility is terrible on top of everything else. I noticed my watch crew did`nt have rain gear on, so I brought them below, then back to the bridge, all snug in their rain slickers. I`ve had this weather for 12 days, heading back to base before my fuel gets critical.

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by kalkulator

I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh at you ...:rotfl: ... but that was pretty funny story. And I didn't even know that was possible!? Unharmed and without a damage, they can actually go down during a storm?

IIRC this only happens if you've got mods which increase the size of the waves beyond a certain point. Can anyone confirm this?

[Rykaird]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

IIRC this only happens if you've got mods which increase the size of the waves beyond a certain point. Can anyone confirm this?

I don't use any wave height additions - I use the standard height (GWX/SH3C) and I've seen ships sunk by the weather.