Re-reading Das-Boot

[Fer32]

I m reading again the book and Im in a chapter called "second attack" I notice that the captain in preparation for the attack just gave orders to get close and shot to his first officer, then the first officer is the one who gave all the data to the sailors who manned the computer , the captain is just looking to the binoculars picking the ships he likes, I ask because I always use my first officer to give me the firing solution so maybe (according to the book) I am not playing so unrealistic.

[Brag]

The U-boat commander would seldom if ever thouch the TDC (he's done enough of that as a junior officer).

[Wreford-Brown]

The u-boat commanders job was to command the u-boat and have an overview of what was happening around him - he was the situational awareness guy.

All of the calculations were done by the First Officer and he was responsible for accurate firing of the torpedo. As Brag has said, a Captain would have done the calculations when he was a First Officer himself.

Not doing the calculations yourself is historically accurate (but far less challenging), just keep your fingers crossed that Barnard isn't your WO!

[Fer32]

Would be cool if the the navegator could gave me an intercept course and speed to a ship far away, instead of doing myself, that why he is my navegator, or am I being too lazy as a commander

Originally Posted by Wreford-Brown

The u-boat commanders job was to command the u-boat and have an overview of what was happening around him - he was the situational awareness guy.

All of the calculations were done by the First Officer and he was responsible for accurate firing of the torpedo.

This is only true for surfaced attacts. Submerged attacks were handled by the Captain at the periscope; he called out the firing data for the TDC.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Fer32

I ask because I always use my first officer to give me the firing solution so maybe (according to the book) I am not playing so unrealistic.

H O W E V E R: The First Officer in the game can make identifications and plot solutions instantly, and he never makes even the smallest mistakes, so actually it is very unrealistic. Realistic would be you as captain setting up the mast height and him righting it down, so you still have to do the work there. Realistic would be you taking multiple observations and using the stopwatch, and the two of you together figuring out the target's speed.

But don't let that stop you; I use him too. I compensate by taking two or three sightings for each target, and never taking snap-shots, that is I never lock on, get his solution and fire instantly. Might as well just use full auto-targetting in that case.