Attacking enemy ships in rough weather

[Maxt]

I have a success sinking ships in bad weather without any visual contact, just by my sonar man and four bearings method (without the 5th) while on the move. Then I set course to intercept for gyro 0 shot, and adjust the final range by active sonar... Oh and I'm not using position keeper in this case.

In addition I want to say, when it's raining, DD's should struggle trying to find you because they will not be able to hear your engines.
So just start moving...


Good luck!

[p.jakub88]

Originally Posted by Maxt

I have a success sinking ships in bad weather without any visual contact, just by my sonar man and four bearings method (without the 5th) while on the move. Then I set course to intercept for gyro 0 shot, and adjust the final range by active sonar... Oh and I'm not using position keeper in this case.

In addition I want to say, when it's raining, DD's should struggle trying to find you because they will not be able to hear your engines.
So just start moving...


Good luck!

Hello Maxt,

i prefer the technique presented in the videos, because it is not that hard - only time consuming process.

I never attempted a torpedo attack without Position Keeper enabled. Moreover, i always started my calculations while my submarine was not moving - just like shown in the attached videos.

Earlier i succesfully hit a merchant ship using only sonar, but i only damaged it. However, that was more luck than anything else - i didn't use any sophisticated method. Later i found the sonar only technique video on Youtube.

I always attacked enemy convoys when the weather wasn't good and at night with limited visibility. So, the enemy could not detect me so easily - either visually or by sonar. Only one time i attacked enemy convoy during day in perfect weather conditions - i ended up blown up by escort depth charges being surrounded by 3 escort ships. However i am using TMO 2.5. Still there is a chance to avoid the escort before the attack and after it - in which i was successful few times. I also check the depth under the keel, in case that i will need to dive deep (like 400 feet or more). From my experience i must say, that the Formosa Strait is a dangerous place for a submarine - shallow waters, narrow passage and close to hostile territories.

[Napalm42]

Another real skipper technique I haven't seen mentioned is actually rather simple: wait it out!

If you have the chance, shadow your target vessel in hydrophone/radar range until weather improves, then go for an End Around attack.

[p.jakub88]

Originally Posted by Napalm42

Another real skipper technique I haven't seen mentioned is actually rather simple: wait it out!

If you have the chance, shadow your target vessel in hydrophone/radar range until weather improves, then go for an End Around attack.

Hello Napalm42,

i saw the End Around maneuver in one of the Let's Play videos of the user DangerDeadpan uploaded on Youtube. However, he played unmodded SH4.
I used this technique few times on lonely merchant ships with success.

There is no chance to overtake a fast moving enemy convoy while submerged - You will simply run out of batteries. So, when You fired Your first torpedo they will start evasive maneuvers and You will have usually all nearby escorts heading Your way (at least in TMO 2.5). Even catching up with surface merchant ships is hard. If they change the course on the last possible moment You will have very little time to react. So, setting up Your firing position too early could be a mistake. I am usually waiting when a ship is with 5 nm distance or less, but not so close that it could engage me with deck gun.

[CptGlub]

The two cents of a relatively new CC:

I've had some small successes with no-visual/sonar attacks. The key seems to be getting in close (mind your min arming distances!) and being on the 90. If you can get a full 90 degree broadside setup, it will forgive quite a bit of inaccuracy in your computations. Bracket if you've got the torps to spare.

I'd be careful with running torps on the surface or shallow in rough seas. Not for sure on this but once in rough seas I launched four fish on surface runs. Each one detonated when they armed just a few hundred yards from launch. Since then, I've used a minimum depth of 10 feet when in rough seas.

Take it all with a dash of sea salt as I'm still learning.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by p.jakub88

Hello Napalm42,

i saw the End Around maneuver in one of the Let's Play videos of the user DangerDeadpan uploaded on Youtube. However, he played unmodded SH4.
I used this technique few times on lonely merchant ships with success.

There is no chance to overtake a fast moving enemy convoy while submerged - You will simply run out of batteries. So, when You fired Your first torpedo they will start evasive maneuvers and You will have usually all nearby escorts heading Your way (at least in TMO 2.5). Even catching up with surface merchant ships is hard. If they change the course on the last possible moment You will have very little time to react. So, setting up Your firing position too early could be a mistake. I am usually waiting when a ship is with 5 nm distance or less, but not so close that it could engage me with deck gun.

End around should NEVER be done submerged. Neither should patrolling during the daytime. The first principle of combat is that your batteries must always be fully charged, ready for a long combat.

So your end around must be done surfaced, at a range of at least six miles from the enemy. If your batteries are not fully charged during the end around you will lose at least a knot of speed, and that can spell the difference between getting a favorable position in front of the enemy and waving as they sail by. And you should get back to the target track out of sight of the enemy: at least six miles in front of them. If you have your tactics right, you're in that position so that they won't run over top of you until after sunset.

Then you have all night to decimate the convoy. Don't get greedy. Don't let the escorts pin you down. YOU are forcing them to play your game. NEVER play theirs. Hit and run all night.

[p.jakub88]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

End around should NEVER be done submerged. Neither should patrolling during the daytime. The first principle of combat is that your batteries must always be fully charged, ready for a long combat.

So your end around must be done surfaced, at a range of at least six miles from the enemy. If your batteries are not fully charged during the end around you will lose at least a knot of speed, and that can spell the difference between getting a favorable position in front of the enemy and waving as they sail by. And you should get back to the target track out of sight of the enemy: at least six miles in front of them. If you have your tactics right, you're in that position so that they won't run over top of you until after sunset.

Then you have all night to decimate the convoy. Don't get greedy. Don't let the escorts pin you down. YOU are forcing them to play your game. NEVER play theirs. Hit and run all night.

Hello Rockin Robbins,

of course i always did the end around technique surfaced, unless i wanted to catch a single merchant ship that was running away.

When the convoy approached me i tried to position my submarine accordingly, so i was a smaller target for the enemy sonar just as written in the TMO 2.5 manual. Thanks to that, i was able to start my attack being undetected by escort ships.

When the escort started dropping depth charges on me i dived to a secure depth and waited there on engine off and run silent mode. Most of the time i received no damage at all. I deployed decoys when available to distract the escort. I waited few hours submerged till sunset to be sure that i will be safe when i surface. Usually i sunk 1 or 2 merchant ships from every convoy that i intercepted starting from late 1943. Once i sunk 3 ships from 8. One time i came across an unguarded (?) 8 ship convoy from which i sank 6 (!) ships, because i run out of torpedoes in forward torpedo room and those 2 remaining ships were heading to enemy port through shallow water. I tried to avoid intercepting convoys in shallow waters.

In total i sunk ca. 200 000 tons in my RSRDC career that lasted from 16 June 1942 to 15 August 1945. However, in the RSRDC You will have less ships to encounter than in the stock game. For example: a SH4 Let's Play Youtuber that played stock SH4, sunk about 1 000 000 tons (!) from 7th December 1941 to the end of the Pacific war.

[Capt. Morgan]

Having done it (with the help of radar which makes it much easier), I have to admit that sinking a ship blind is very rewarding, but how realistic is it that a skipper would sunk an unidentified ship?

Maybe in certain locations the vessel would likely be a valid target, but even then, how would know it wasn't a hospital ship, or neutral? Did any skippers attack unidentified targets In the Pacific?

[jcope]

I agree with what Rockin Robbins said. In RFB/RSRD I find 5 miles distant from the target is sufficient to stay out of sight.

You could fire blind based on the fact that the passive sonar gives you the first sound on any target at exactly +/- 10degrees from it's actual bearing. Just set the hydrophone at 10degrees ahead of where you want to fire, and wait for the green light to come on, then go shoot.