Plotting Exploit or Not?

[Hitman]

By the way, does anyone know how range from the deck was normally estimated? Did they go down and use the scope or can it be done with the UZOs?

It was estimated with the MKI eyeball, with reticles in the binoculars, and sometimes (rarely, not a standard item in a U-Boat, but sometimes issued to them) with a hand-held rangefinder device.

I have a transcription of an interview with Ace Georg Lassen, where he explains that the estimates were practiced a lot. In the naval academy they went to sea several times per day for the sole purpose of practicing estimates of range, AOB and speed.

Then, they also had some aids which we don't. For example, they had a realistically curved earth, with a distance to horizon known (8.5 km from the Uboat bridge). So, any ship with a fully visible hull was closer than 8.5 km, for starters, and coming close in the estimate also was aided with the binocular. Knowing the linear field of view at 1000 metres, you knew that if a ship of such length covers the full FOV it is at 1000 metres, if only one half at 2000, if only 1/4 at 4000 and so on.

Reinhard Suhren (Who had a specially abled eye for that) in his memoirs describes how he once made a "master shot" in U-48, while surfaced. He estimated the range by naked eye as 5000 metres, and according to the measured torpedo run he was off just by some tenths of metres.

But in any case, the plot made by german Uboat crews was quite different to what their US counterparts did. They relied on a direct comparison of uboat and target course and exact bearings, with only rough estimates of distance. Target course and speed were estimated more by comparison with own uboat (Which the Kaleun tried to put on paralell course to the target and overtake it at constant distance), and the plot served more to determine the zig-zagging patter than anything else. By noting the uboat zigzags as ordered by the Kaptain (Who in turn just mirrored what the target did), and seeing how the bearing changed as the uboat overtook the target, the navigator was able to made an accurate estimate of target speed and course.

Hope that explanation helps sorry to write such a wall of text

[KL-alfman]

Originally Posted by Hitman

sorry to write such a wall of text

far from it!

it's very interesting (and helpful as well) to read about the approach the "real" Kaleuns had when plotting or attacking. thx for this short historical digression.

[Bosje]

fascinating stuff!
thanks for being educational

[Hitman]

You know, the key to explain the real differences in how we see it and how they did its TIME. We play just some minutes or hours, and are on a rush to kill something, sometimes because we must go do something else in our real life. But real Kaleuns had all necessary time at their avail, no time compression and their job was just that. I have sailed in real ships a lot when I was younger, and life in general goes so much slower that you tend to have a different approach to everything. I remember during sailing races how I observed a rival ship coming closer and it took so long that I could observate many details carefully, understanding perfectly what he was doing to take advantage and go faster than myself, as well as I could easily say how many degrees he was getting closer to the wind direction than me, and also the speed difference between their ship and mine.

It's just a matter of patience, and being dedicated to what you are doing, as well as a lot of practice

[Fader_Berg]

This might be just what I need. I've been playing SH3 in seven months now, (four in 100%) and I'm getting bored. This would be a great challange... not use the WO's perfect "estimates", that is. Why didn't I think of that?
How much does the degree ticks stand for in GWX at the UZO and the scopes different zoom levels?