Active sonar, useful for anything other than basic ranging?

[Castout]

Originally Posted by SeaQueen

I use it on the FFG at least as much as I use the passive sonar, probably more. With surface ships stealth is not so much of an issue and there's a lot of advantages to going faster, so I tend to go active. Particularly against a quiet diesel electric it's probably the best way to go. I also usually use active sonobuoys against diesel electric submarines.

With submarines the advantages are less clear. I can't think of any time I've used active sonar in a submarine.

I recently played with a 19 year old teen he was controlling the helo and in the second scenario a DDG. I advised him to use active sonar but he stubbornly told me that it's not wise to use the active sonar. It's as if it was a heresy for skimmer to use active sonar to hunt for submarines but to me active sonar perhaps is the primary means of locating subs for surface ships especially when the skimmer is sure of the presence of subs in game.

In the first scenario I was driving the 688i and he couldn't find me inside this bay. In our second game I was driving Type 212A and he was controlling a DDG backed by couple friendy ships and planes.
He got me in less than an hour into the game?? Wtf? No active pinging and I was driving at 7 knots and the non nuclear subs in DWX is a hell lot quieter than their nuclear counterparts and subs in DWX are substantially quieter than in stock or LWAMI.

Anyway he proved to me that he was able to find me passively in our second game though I have my suspicion as the show truth on wasn't locked or maybe he was not. Anyway it was just game for me.

Somebody needs to tell kids these day that going active for skimmer is not a heresy. Kids these days won't listen to anybody.

[SeaQueen]

Originally Posted by Castout

I recently played with a 19 year old teen he was controlling the helo and in the second scenario a DDG. I advised him to use active sonar but he stubbornly told me that it's not wise to use the active sonar. It's as if it was a heresy for skimmer to use active sonar to hunt for submarines but to me active sonar perhaps is the primary means of locating subs for surface ships especially when the skimmer is sure of the presence of subs in game.

A lot of the "only use passive sonar" thinking is really a left-over from the Cold War when the Soviets planned to surge hundreds of submarines many of which were obsolete 1950s era submarines based on copies of WWII submarines. Those could often be detected from hundreds of miles away passively. Things aren't that way anymore. Even then, most hull mounted passive sonars aren't that great.

Also, for the Russian submarines, where they don't necessarily have good passive sonar range, I imagine active sonar has more of a pay off too.

All in all, it depends on what you're trying to do. Sometimes, though, the advantages of detection range far outweigh the advantages of stealth. With surface ships, that calculation generally ends up favoring turning on all your sensors.

[Molon Labe]

I think active is the skimmer's primary sensor. I use the TA too, but I tend to only rely on the TA as my primary sensor if the acoustic conditions are favorable AND I'm hunting a loud target.

For subs, active can be useful if you're in an SSN and hunting an SSK because you can frequently pin it down outside of the SSKs torpedo range. Active can also be useful if you know your opponent already has a good solution on you, so you really don't give anything up by giving him another bearing line with the ping.