Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific U-Boat Mission Gamespot QA

[AngusJS]

Would "deathmatches" be feasible between the American and German subs? The XXI had active sonar and acoustic homing torpedoes, right? Did any US subs have comparable capabilities?

I know it's silly and ahistorical, but still.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by AngusJS

Would "deathmatches" be feasible between the American and German subs? The XXI had active sonar and acoustic homing torpedoes, right? Did any US subs have comparable capabilities?

I know it's silly and ahistorical, but still.

Unlike Hunt for red october or U-571, the only way a sub vs sub action could occur, is if one caught the other on the surface, unawares. Submerged action would be impossible. Where are you going to get your torpedo solution from? Certainly not active sonar. Both did have homing torpedo's, at least i know the allies did in the from of the "cutie" air dropped torpedo. Quite nasty, shame they didnt model that in Sh3.

[scrag]

There were a few recorded instances of sub vs sub action - submerged. One case was towards the end of the war when a Brit detected, fired on and sank a submerged U-Boat. This was obviously very rare but in fact did happen. How they did it was to plot bearings over a course of time and developed a solution much like today's TMA techniques. Using a spread of six fiish solved for inaccuracies in the solution. What was hard though was guessing the depth, which the Brits did manage to do.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by scrag

There were a few recorded instances of sub vs sub action - submerged. One case was towards the end of the war when a Brit detected, fired on and sank a submerged U-Boat. This was obviously very rare but in fact did happen. How they did it was to plot bearings over a course of time and developed a solution much like today's TMA techniques. Using a spread of six fiish solved for inaccuracies in the solution. What was hard though was guessing the depth, which the Brits did manage to do.

Actually this particular case was also visual - as I recall, the Germans' "terrible periscope drill" was quoted. The sub was at periscope depth when it was struck, which would not have been very difficult to do. I suppose the brits had enough to go by from the periscope sightings and the sound bearings. I think the attack also took place in a fairly confined area just off Bergen, and the Brits knew the sub was coming after being aleterted by intelligence. So it was certainly more of a pre-planned ambush on an unsuspecting U-boat than a sub to sub battle as such.