USN Convoy Attacks

[razark]

Proper pre-war/early war doctrine would be for you to dive deep, and conduct an attack by hydrophone. Do not risk your boat. Do not risk your crew. Do not get detected.

But if you want to throw out the book and sink ships, I'd suggest a submerged daytime attack. Do what you must to get in, sink the targets, and get out to do it again.

[Reinhard Dietz]

Originally Posted by razark

Proper pre-war/early war doctrine would be for you to dive deep, and conduct an attack by hydrophone. Do not risk your boat. Do not risk your crew. Do not get detected.

You're serious, aren't you? I thought I had seen others make reference to this, but I kind of wrote it off as a joke. A bearing-only attack using unguided torpedoes seems like a waste of time---perhaps if I had ADCAPs (and that's the only kind of attack I can manage with modern boats, since I can't do TMA to save my life) it'd make sense.

But if you want to throw out the book and sink ships, I'd suggest a submerged daytime attack. Do what you must to get in, sink the targets, and get out to do it again.

I'm probably going to give that a shot. With a totally green crew, my brilliant idea of a surfaced nighttime attack is probably suicide against a group of cruisers. On the other hand, the passive-only attack seems like it would be fun, if pointless.

[Armistead]

Depends on conditions and how brave you are. Once you get use to how the game works, you'll learn to get way ahead of it's track, dive and wait and shoot as close as you can. Try to put yourself between the escorts and keep a narrow profile. If you're playing stock, this is a easy attack, using TMO, much tougher. The most important thing in not being heard while submerged is rough seas, that with silent running you can get by with murder.

If your unsure or water is calm, shoot spreads from longer range, 3000 yards or so.

[Reinhard Dietz]

Originally Posted by Armistead

If your unsure or water is calm, shoot spreads from longer range, 3000 yards or so.

The water's almost as smooth as glass and the conditions are essentially CAVU. I'll probably try the 3,000 yards attack; might be safer since the Sargo boats aren't the deepest-diving in the world.

[Reinhard Dietz]

Well, bother. I've tried this attack four or five times and can't score a single stinking hit, due to that whole "dowdy old transport handle like a racing boat" bit. Using ye olde external camera, I've watched Small Passenger Carriers out-accelerate and out-maneuver torpedoes like pros. "Oh, for <expletive deleted> sake!" has been heard rather often in the last two hours.

Between that and the dud torpedoes, nothing's working. Give me a Type VIIC or a Type IXC and I'll take all six or seven destroyers, three light cruisers and eight transports.

It would help if I could pause the game and pre-set the torpedo depths for all eight tubes.

[KlassenT]

That, sir, has always confounded me a bit. Is it historically accurate to have an independent per-tube depth control dial and a universal spread control dial? Always seemed to me that standardization would call for the same behavior on both dials, either both independent or both universal... Ever been looked into by the mod squads, just for kicks?

[Reinhard Dietz]

Originally Posted by KlassenT

That, sir, has always confounded me a bit. Is it historically accurate to have an independent per-tube depth control dial and a universal spread control dial? Always seemed to me that standardization would call for the same behavior on both dials, either both independent or both universal.

I'll readily confess that I'm used to the tube-by-tube setting ability in SHIII. I'm also not particularly pleased with the auto-TDC setting depth for me every time I select a target since I know a little something about USN torpedo depth patterns and am adjusting for it. If I didn't have to flip out of the target data page and reset the depth (if not the speed and pistol settings) constantly, I'd probably do a little better. For whatever reason, a torpedo attack in SHIV seems a lot more like spinning a bunch of plates on sticks all at once instead of the leisurely sniping on careful settings that I get away with in SHIII.

Originally Posted by NorthBeach

I'll assume you have speed and course plotted. (...) External booms and internal whoops should follow.

NorthBeach, I have enough trouble with a completely assisted attack; doing this with my aiming skills would be a larger disaster than it already is. Between the most excellent performance of Japanese naval propulsion and their remarkable maneuverability, about the only way I'll probably get a hit on this convoy is using a nuclear-tipped SS-N-19.

I'm currently very tempted to get a ship physics mod, either of the JREX or Webster variant. Anyone got opinions on either of those?

[NorthBeach]

I'll assume you have speed and course plotted. If seas are smooth, I'd use a Vector Analysis attack using sonar at a depth of 149 feet (a foot over max firing depth). So, range doesn't matter. Compute your attack 2deg off true to lessen the 90deg dud factor. Sonar contacts are at MOT or at the screw (I've never figured out which, for sure), so at 3000 yards lead your target by 4degs if under 10kts for the first shot of your salvo. Adjust your gyro angle ahead by 1deg for the 2 successive shots.

External booms and internal whoops should follow...

[KlassenT]

Originally Posted by NorthBeach

... 149 feet (a foot over max firing depth)...

Hmm, I don't think this is a universal number, then. It's 99ft (100 max) for me in stock 1.5, so it may be altered by a mod or it may just vary between sub classes. *shrugs*

[razark]

Originally Posted by Reinhard Dietz

You're serious, aren't you? I thought I had seen others make reference to this, but I kind of wrote it off as a joke.

Yup. I'm serious. In pre-war exercises, a commander who managed to get his periscope seen by the "enemy" stood a very high chance of being relieved of command. The submarine was thought of as a scouting unit for the fleet. As most of the US fleet was still sitting in Pearl Harbor, the submarine force took up the slack. The early skippers showed very little success, and were soon replaced by younger, more aggressive officers. These younger officers also had the advantage of having been on actual war patrols under the pre-war skippers. They knew what would work, and what wouldn't.