Realistic sub tactics with aircraft

[Wilcke]

@AVGWarhawk,

That pic in your sig, you have an announcement to make? Hee, hee, hee, its cute, I get it duuuuuh!

[Bubblehead1980]

Staying under all day and surfacing at night to charge batteries(both the subs and the crew's) was the standard tactic when the war started and many used it for the first part of the war.

Mid to late war some bold skippers decided the yo-yo method was best, and it is.Yo-Yo meaning diving only when have to, to avoid planes or to attack.They also began using night surface attacks from 1943 on, using the submarine as a torpedo boat that could submerge.

Think is, when you stay under all day, you hamper yourself but burning fuel, recharging batteries consumes a lot of fuel, you do this day after day, your time on patrol will be cut short.Also, you can't cover the miles and cant see as far with periscope only, thus wont spot target earlier, so may miss a chance to attack because spotted them too late.

I know this because in early war, I use historic tactics(for the challenge) and stay under all day, surface at night.In mid to late war, I use the yo-yo method and can just see the difference.

Only exception is say if I am near the coast of Japan during day, stay under, because planes will be on fast, plus even the top late war subs like the Tang etc patroled submerged when really close to shore.

Of course, I use mods...TMO 1.9 in particular, in stock I stayed under a lot because of the ridiculous amount of planes.Stock was almost unplayable at times due to the planes.

[Rockin Robbins]

There is some evidence that submarines close to land were caught by surprise when airplanes used the cover of terrain features to sneak up in the radar shadow to plaster submarines. The evidence is sunk submarines. That also shows that captains were willing to take risks to gain tonnage.

[tomoose]

RJ;
I essentially follow your method in that I cruise on the surface as much as possible and dive if there's a perceived threat (usually an air radar contact). Even after a radar contact I'll generally push my luck and wait for a visual sighting before crash diving. Having said that, with the TMO mod, the crash dive takes me deep as the aircraft can still see you at periscope depth.

As RR states, cruising on the surface, even in the daytime, allows me to cover more of my patrol area and saves my batteries for when I need them. As soon as I dive I'm very conscious of what's happening to my batteries and when I need to recharge.

[abclkhan]

Playing TMO 1.9 I prefer to close to straits. This way you can stay submerged and since the targets course is almost the same you only have to employ quick runs and get to afiring point. I use to sink 2-4 ships in an interval of 24 hours submerged. I hope not to be replaced!
lol

... Does it exists any recording of battery endurance and battery level x speed?

[Rockin Robbins]

Yes, it is possible to hang out in a strait submerged, and so long as it is a choke point in a shipping lane, you will find targets. The problem is that you're submerged, burning up your batteries and you'll need those batteries when you get in combat with an escorted target. So you are crippling your ability to fight.

Then when you surface, you have to stay surfaced for very long amounts of time to recharge. Your risk of being spotted is about the same as if you stayed on the surface and just submerged when forced to. But you are not ready to fight because your batteries are always below full charge. There's no peace like knowing you can hit the jets at ahead emergency for 30 minutes and not worry about your battery! It'll save your tail!

[Armistead]

Stay on the surface you cowards....and dive only when you must...You're surface raiders, be brave and get it done.