AA gun severely in need of a nerfing!

[akdavis]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

OK - I am going to disagree that ALL the guns on the subs need a power dropdown... The 4" gun definitely is NOT overpowered at stock settings. In fact, if anything - its weak. I suspect the 3 and 5 inch may be as well...

Here is the reasoning - as mentioned above escorts have literally no armor - and neither do merchants. And your going to tell me a 4" explosive charge - hitting a thin shell of steel isnt going to puncture it? AP especially - would punch through the hull OR plate of a DD's turret. There are a number of battle reports from the era where Light Cruisers would be hit by 5" guns and take major damage. Yet it takes 10 or 12 hits at the waterline to have much effect on a DD? Not realistic.

However, I accept that there have to be some gameplay sacrifices, and I think the gun power is set like it is because when we use it - we are a lot more accurate than gun crews of the era were. Once I get the range - every shot hits where I want - and no gun crew of the era could do that.

Good Hunting!
Captain Haplo

Penetrating the hull is not the only factor. In comparison to the target, the explosives delivered are rather small. Kinda like tossing grenades at an office building and expecting it to topple.

Initially, deck guns were considered by many to be an extraneous and dangerous piece of hardware for submarines at the beginning of the war. Principally, the reasoning was that a submarine is basically a poor platform for a deck gun. Owing to the fact that the vast majority of the sub fleet's war patrols within 500 miles of Japanese bases were conducted submerged, the value of the deck gun was severely questioned. Additionally, it was reasoned that a submarine in a head to head gun battle with an enemy in possession of equal (or greater) firepower was at serious risk. Any enemy hits on the submarine which could impede or prevent her ability to submerge was justification enough to avoid a surface gun action. That's not to say that submariners didn't take advantage of some welcomed target practice when the opportunity arose. US Submarines that were scouting the Japanese Empire waters frequently came upon sampans, which were often suspected of being naval lookouts or anti-submarine pickets. By April of 1942, submarine skippers decided to start thinning out the sampan fleet and a periscope contact often resulted in the order of "Battle Surface". The results of a piboat going up against a lightly armed, floating bundle of wood one would think could be easily determined, however sinking these pesky little vessels was not a simple as first thought. Theodore Roscoe, in his book US SUBMARINE OPERATIONS IN WW II, states: "They could be riddled with .30 and .50 caliber machine gun bullets and holed several times by 3 or 5 inch shells and remain afloat like a box of Swiss cheese". More often than not, a submarine's deck gun was of greater value for overall morale than it was for combat effectiveness. A submerged boat that was damaged by an enemy surface vessel could, as a last ditch effort to survive, surface and engage in a gun battle, although with the odds generally stacked heavily against it. The deck gun was the ultimate weapon of last resort and it has been suggested that the 3, 4 or 5 inch guns (used for both anti-aircraft and surface actions and typically located abaft of the the conning tower), was therefore justified.