Missing TDC / Torpedo options?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Elphaba

Hi

Thinking back to SH3-5, we had the ability to open / close tubes and flood etc to speed up firing, and set the torpedoes to fast / slow and magnetic / impact.

Are any of these coming? And considering the extremely impressive detail already in the game, are these features missing because the real subs never had them and they're just game mechanics from the Silent Hunter series?

Open/Close tube doors: This had to be done or the torpedo would hit the door. I don't mean to belabor the obvious, but...

Before the doors could be opened the tube had to be flooded. This was done while setting up the shot, and the doors opened, so everything would be ready to go when the time for firing came. The reason pre-opening the doors "sped up the shot" in Silent Hunter was that if you just ordered the shot it the AI would have to open the doors first. I don't know how that's done in this game, so I can't say what might be better.

Torpedo speed, as with all settings in this era, was set by hand at the torpedo tube using hand cranks, so when the captain decided what speed to fire at all torpedoes were set to that speed beforehand and left that way.

Magnetic vs impact settings. In the first part of the war torpedoes had both magnetic and impact pistols, and they were both active all the time. When the Germans and Americans both ran into problems with the magnetic pistols
the only way to deactivate them was to take the torpedo head apart and physically disable the pistol entirely. This was against procedure and against the rules, so only the most enterprising torpedo chiefs would suggest it and only the bravest captains would risk it. It turned out to be worth the risk, but both navies had higher-up brass who absolutely refused to make the change. In the end both navies finally got admirals who were willing to listen to the men on the spot and start experimenting.

A properly working magnetic pistol and an actual switch to turn it on and off weren't available until early 1944.

A couple of old links that haven't been mentioned in a few years. You might find them interesting.
http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-570/U-...tishReport.htm
http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-570/U-570ONIReport.htm
https://archive.hnsa.org/doc/fleetsub/index.htm
https://maritime.org/doc/uboat/index.htm