Sinking for no reason

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by mikesn9

While on the subject of mines, is there anyway to watch out for them while patrolling an area?

I've been sunk a few times, Like a bomb out of nowhere.

The game can have mines anywhere, the game don't care 'bout no "anchor" point... but there are a couple of things you can do. If it's late in the war, and you have a Tench boat with FM sonar, you can "hear" the mines ring the chime. Otherwise, if you are underwater in an area you suspect has been mined, then you can partially raise the periscope and look through it (refer to the "SH4_Q-Ref_Card_Front.jpg"), so long as you are going slow enough, and are not too terribly deep to see, or that it is not night time... The game does not give you a sound (that I know of) like a cable rubbing against your hull the way the anti-subnet will give you a warning. You just go "BOOM" when too close, in my experience. It is advisable (duh) to stay away from them...

[mikesn9]

[If it's late in the war, and you have a Tench boat with FM sonar, you can "hear" the mines ring the chime]

I have a Tench boat how do I hear these?

[propbeanie]

Unfortunately, the FM does not truly function in SH4. I might try me a test with a Tench, make a SingleMission with a minefield, and see if it "shows" on the NavMap maybe... It'll be this afternoon before I get to it. - Oh! are you using TMO, or FotRSU?

[mikesn9]

SH4 Gold with TMO wtw.

That's all

[propbeanie]

Well, I did FotRSU first, and the results are in:



My Tench did not have FM sonar though, even on April 15, 1945 at about 1800 by the time I got up there, but there was the minefield... and yes, for you US citizens, that is a slight dig at the date...

My pictures through the periscope did not turn out too well, but here's a few others:


A mine, as seen from the external camera from underwater.



Same mine from the surface up close



That's my sub at the bottom, and a bunch of little white orbs out in front of the sub, sitting at PD. You can see the first mine about 1/3 of the way down from the top edge. My sub's bow is about 1/3 of the way from the bottom edge.



Blowing up a mine with the 40mm AA gun. That bright "gold" color on the targeting reticle is just the sun setting behind my location.

Thus far, the procedure to follow with a Tench is the same as it is for the S-18 = "Go and be careful", aka: "Go around it"

[mikesn9]

Curses, foiled again!

[propbeanie]

I'm thinking, for whatever reason besides nostalgia, that the SSI Silent Hunter (the original) had the capacity to do what I'm seeing in my rememberance, as little blue "star" dots on the NavMap that would signify a detected mine, but it might have been some other subsim game... anyway, I'll keep noodling with this (it's too much fun), though I do not expect much from the SH4 engine. I don't think they put the capacity for such (FM sonar) in the game... We'd have to have CapnScurvy or someone of similar skill level comment on this

Taken from http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/F/m/FM_sonar.htm :

FM Sonar
This American sonar was a high-frequency, short-range sonar designed to detect moored mines. It used frequency modulation, sweeping through frequency as it swept in bearing, so that a nondirectional hydrophone could determine the bearing of a return signal from its frequency alone. It was one of the first true search sonars, though its range (not more than 800 yards or 730 meters under ideal conditions)was inadequate for any purpose but plotting minefields.

The sonar had a Plan Position Indicator, similar to those used on the best radar, which showed mines as bright green "pears"; the sonar also made an audible sound when its beam swept across a mine, a clear ringing note that the crews promptly dubbed "hell's bells." The audible component was important because helped distinguish actual mines from shoals of fish; the shoals gave a less distinct return that produced a muddy tone that a trained operator could easily distinguish from an actual mine.

The technology was originally developed for minesweepers, but the minesweeper force was unimpressed with its capability, and its development and deployment was taken over by the submarine service under Charles Lockwood. Lockwood saw the potential for the sonar to allow his submarines to penetrate Japanese minefields, and the first units reached the fleet in time for Operation BARNEY in July 1945, a raid by nine submarines on the Sea of Japan. The nine boats successfully penetrated the minefields in Tsushima Strait, although one boat was later lost to a conventional depth charge attack before the remaining eight boats escaped through La Perouse Strait.
References
Sasgen (2010)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2012 by Kent G. Budge. Index

[mikesn9]

I have played 688i, and used the FM detector in that game to chart and pass through mine fields.