Sub on the bottom?

[Takao]

Does that trick even work with SHV? It never did in stock SHIII or SHIV...

[JScones]

Originally Posted by Takao

Does that trick even work with SHV? It never did in stock SHIII or SHIV...

What trick? Merging all Oscar's threads into one?

[mookiemookie]

A real sub captain would not have sat on the bottom. Too much risk of getting stuck in the mud.

[SabreHawk]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

A real sub captain would not have sat on the bottom. Too much risk of getting stuck in the mud.

I was about to say something like this. We can do it safely I'd think, but in real life one cannot get a look outside the sub to accuately do this and cannot know what's really under you and what kind of bottom it is be it hard, soft, mud, plant life like seaweed or if there is anything that might damage the hull or anything else.
Seaweed could get into the props for instance, a big rock could damage something, and then there is the fact that the bottom might not be level.

[Halface]

hmmmm i mangaed to set my sub on the bottmon mud throwed up etc....uhmmm

[convoy hunter]

i did get my sub on the bottom but i heard continiusly a banging noise

[senjorlossi]

Well, I have read several times that U-boats have been put onto the sea floor in real live (I´m talking about WW2 subs).

For example, G. Prien "parked" his U-47 outside Scapa Flow to wait for nightfall for his raid. He wrote in his logbook: "East of Scapa Flow on the bottom at 90 meters".
L.G. Buchheim also talked of putting the boat onto the sea floor in one of his books. He describes that the current was dragging the boat over the floor, so that the LI had to put more water into the tanks to make the boat sit properly on the bottom.


One should keep in mind that the condition of the floor is stated on navigation charts (like "rocks", "sand", "mud" etc.), as well as larger obstacles like wrecks and large rocks.

Still, of course, as a commander I would consider very thoroughly the risk of hitting or being entangled into anything that is not mentioned on the chart, being it an unknown wreck, fishing nets or whatever.

But it has been done, at least occasionally.

[oscar19681]

Originally Posted by Halface

hmmmm i mangaed to set my sub on the bottmon mud throwed up etc....uhmmm

In sh5? you can "bottom" the u-boat but the computer thinks that the bottom is 10 meters above the visible bottom.

[longam]

We need a Mod called 'Bottoms Up'

[kylania]

Originally Posted by oscar19681

In sh5? you can "bottom" the u-boat but the computer thinks that the bottom is 10 meters above the visible bottom.

Sometimes it's worse!

[Weisia]

Originally Posted by SabreHawk

I was about to say something like this. We can do it safely I'd think, but in real life one cannot get a look outside the sub to accuately do this and cannot know what's really under you and what kind of bottom it is be it hard, soft, mud, plant life like seaweed or if there is anything that might damage the hull or anything else.
Seaweed could get into the props for instance, a big rock could damage something, and then there is the fact that the bottom might not be level.

IIRC I read in a commanders log that he settled his sub on the seafloor waiting for a hydrophone contact. Think it was Hardegen in the beginning of Drumbeat. As soon as I have found the document I will post a link.

Edit: Found it: On page 17 at 17.00 is says he grounded his boat at +25M

[SabreHawk]

Thanks Wiesia, an interesting read. Yes im sure it was done, but very little due to the risk involved and given the limited info on the seabed at any given location.
I'd think that in the 30's and 40's very little exploration of the sea bottom was done yet, only soundings for the most part. Which can produce depths and contour info but I doubt the type of soil and vegetation could be determined. But I could be wrong.

It certainly has to be risky at any rate, given that one cannot see where one is going and what is directly below other than pinging for depth under the keel.

Something else I've always wondered about was the use of the cable cutter on the bows of the earlier boats and exactly how this is done without getting tangled in a net.

[convoy hunter]

Originally Posted by JScones

What trick? Merging all Oscar's threads into one?

[Iron Budokan]

Originally Posted by JScones

What trick? Merging all Oscar's threads into one?

Okay, that made me laugh.

[mookiemookie]

I stand corrected.