Question of the day. Surprise torpedo evasion.

[Sgian Dubh]

I have no problem with the shotgun torpedo tactic. It's real, kids. That's part of why they gave more torpedo tubes to the Seawolf. Bigger salvos means more dead stuff. That's the bottom line in Capt. Wayne Hughes, Fleet Tactics. It's a fact of contemporary naval warfare.

The shotgun torpedo tactic works. There's nothing wrong with it. Maximum salvo size is not a bad way of thinking at all. I'd argue that the kiddies have discovered what it took Wayne Hughes a whole book to argue in favor of. Once you find the bad guy, the scenario SHOULD be about countermeasures and weapons effectiveness. The problem is, that they choose distance scales for the scenario which simplify the search problem unrealistically.

The other thing is that let's suppose you shoot a maximum sized torpedo salvo at every TIW call. If you choose the distance scale right, the travel time required for the torpedoes to arrive at your location will be sufficiently large that if you employ a smart evasion tactic, you should be able to avoid almost all of these attacks unless you are very unlucky. It won't totally negate it (and it shouldn't) but it will make it a lot less effective.

There are, I think, two different meanings being ascribed to "Shotgun".

I have no problem with someone putting multiple torpedos into the water for a single, detected and resovled contact. I have a big problem with some one in a Seawolf launching 8 ADCAPS in 4 equidistance bearings away from ownship and hopings that one of them latches onto something.

You'll have a hard time presenting a case where a board of inquiry would absolve a skipper for firing torpedos across the compass spread because "They had to be out there somewhere.".

That is not a tactic in any sense of the word.

It is a problem, to be sure. I guess the bottom line is to learn who to dive with that matches your style and preferences for the game. This is the single issue which make me skeptical about spending too much time in MP play.