Odd merchants in Op. Monsoon

[Alexsej]

What is wrong with merchant ships in OM mod?
They all are the same, like KF-K-M and KF-KF-M-K and M-K-K-M. What is the difference between those?
Ridiculous amount of merchant ships!!
I can't even get an angle view of them in recognition manual.
They are too many and to identify your target you have to be staring at the target til your eyes bleed while comparing it to pictures in the recognition manual.
Are they even historical merchants?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Alexsej

What is wrong with merchant ships in OM mod?
They all are the same, like KF-K-M and KF-KF-M-K and M-K-K-M. What is the difference between those?

Those are actual merchant identification drawings from the Office of Naval Operations recognition manual. Here are the pages that tell you how it works.

Ridiculous amount of merchant ships!!

The actual manual has 64 pages of ship pictures. Here is page 20.

I can't even get an angle view of them in recognition manual.

They did have another manual with photographs, but even that did not have angle or bow views.

They are too many and to identify your target you have to be staring at the target til your eyes bleed while comparing it to pictures in the recognition manual.

Now you know how they did it in real life. The manual that comes with the game is extremely dumbed-down.

Are they even historical merchants?

Yes.

Oh, I forgot: The German manuals weren't much different. It was a big book. I can't find a copy but there are photos floating around of kaleuns and 1WOs checking them against the periscope view.

[merc4ulfate]

It is more a case of people not knowing the history behind it than anything else.