Missed..again

[Harmsway!]

Originally Posted by Julie Whitefeather

The odd thing that happened late this evening is I had a merchant ship at 10 degrees off the starboard bow. I stopped dead in the water. I was an automatic firing. Then the odd thing happened.

The triangle would only light up for the aft torpedo and not the forward torpedo that were facing the merchant ship.

And this time I knew to open all the torpedo doors.

Thanks.

Well...at least I'm not as bad as the captain of the U.S.S. William D. Perry.

Let's talk about this for a moment and pretend that the two of you are traveling on the same course. Unless he is directly behind you he (target) would be on a parallel course. Like the rails on a train track. The target on one rail and you traveling on the other. Now let say you wait for him to catch up and lay along your left side of your position. At this point if you fire out the bow the torpedo would have to make a sharp turn, 90 degrees in fact to hit the target. That would be outside the turning range of the torpedo and the firing solution would not allow it.

You could of course angle the bow of your boat facing him enough to allow for a firing solution. This causes the torp to head straight out a little then make a sharp turn to hit the target. Even when these solutions are possible they greatly diminish the possibility of a hit. Straight on shots (your course 90 degrees to his course) to small angle shots have the best chance of success.

In your case the firing solution aft was possible. It may need to take a sharp turn but it was possible. Also if you select an aft tube to be ready it will try to set up a solution for it.

Therefore I set up a course 90 degrees to target course while I'm waiting. I then fire when his bearing is a few degrees before zero, at zero (dead ahead) and a few degrees past zero. This is a broadside hit. Of course with auto targeting the green triangle indicator will be ready long before this. Just because the shot is possible doesn't mean it is the best shot. Wait for it. Even with the target locked, wait for the broadside shot.

One last thing. The targeting computer will take into account not only the target speed but your sub speed and come up with a solution. However if your sub is still moving it complicates the solution enough to lesson your chance of a hit. So your best chance is to lie in wait with little to no speed of your own. Another reason why setting up is so important. You want to be there long before he is.