Switched to GWX

[Ifernat]

Finally, I mysteriously died for no apparent reason.

Most of your other questions have been answered but I did want to elaborate on this. In all likelihood if you weren't running aground then the answer is you struck a mine, especially if you were off the East Coast of England (or in coastal waters) in mid 1940 or later.

GWX does a good job of simulating the ever increasing number and density of the British coastal minefields that were laid to protect coastal shipping. If you're on the surface (Or if you happen to be a heavy merchant with a 10m max draft) you'll go right over the top of them. A submerged U-boat at 15m depth however....boom.

[Ifernat]

I hate to be 'that guy' but from the GWX PDF manual page 88

A nomograph is a device used to relate quantities in such a way that the value of an unknown quantity can be approximately determined given the values of the other related quantities. The GWX nomograph consists of three scales arranged in such a way that a straight line drawn between the values of known quantities on their respective scales will cross the third line at the value of the unknown quantity on the third line corresponding to the two known values.

Stock Silent Hunter III uses metric units (such as ―kilometers‖) to measure distance and imperial units (such as ―knots‖) to measure speed; however, it is difficult to mentally convert metric measurements to knots of speed, so the three values in the GWX nomograph are knots (nautical miles per hour), kilometers, and minutes. This allows players to calculate

1. a ship‘s speed in knots based on the number of kilometers a ship has traveled in a certain period of time;

2. The number of kilometers a ship will travel in a specified number of minutes at a certain speed in knots;

3. The amount of time it will take a ship to travel a specified number of kilometers at a certain speed in knots.

As you correctly noted on the other thing...yes...that is a bearing and range overlay...I find it quite useful. It shows you the bearing lines and and has range increments of 100 m.

[maillemaker]

Yup, what Ifernat said: The scales on the right-hand side of the map are your nomometer. And it is fantastically useful and necessary for plotting intercepts.

If you get a radio report of a convoy moving at 8 knots due east, and you know it's going to take you 3 hours to intercept, you can use the nomometer to tell you how far the convoy will move in 3 hours at 8 knots by drawing a line from the 8 knots on the left-most line to 180 minutes on the right-most line. Where it crosses the middle line tells you the number of kilometers it will move. You can then refine your intercept.

The radial overlay is also very useful as it shows relative bearing and distance around your boat.

Steve