Why is a straight shot assumed to be the perfect firing angle?

[fireship4]

Yes it seems to work with a moving target no problem. And seeing as the gyro angles im using are considered "straight fire" and the track angle is within the guidelines (i think) then im going to try it out more on patrol (when i get out of my lovely s-boat) - I advise other captains to give it a go aswell. The red text above is wrong

Heres some more from the manual:

(c) It is within this range of torpedo track angles that the greatest amount of course error can be absorbed. From a study of the curves it is evident that the maximum deflection angle is obtained when firing on the optimum torpedo track angle and that the optimum torpedo track angle has a value equal to 90 degrees plus the maximum deflection angle. It is also evident that as the target speed increases for any given torpedo speed the slope of the curves becomes sharper. This means that the higher the target speed the greater the rate of change of deflection angle with torpedo track angle. It is therefore true that the optimum torpedo track angle is more effective for absorbing errors in course when the ratio of torpedo speed to target speed is large. It therefore may be stated that the optimum torpedo track angle is a good mean torpedo track angle for firing a salvo of torpedoes if the target speed is less than one-half of the torpedo speed. (d) The optimum torpedo track angle for a 16 knot target for a 46 knot torpedo is about 110 degrees and for a 29 knot torpedo about 125 degrees.
(e) The greatest advantage of straight fire (small gyro angles) is that errors in torpedo run have no appreciable effect on the solution. Therefore, when the range is inaccurate, as in stadimeter and telemeter scale approaches, the submarine must maneuver for a small gyro angle shot.




Actually, from this (correct me if im wrong) 90 is not the perfect track angle (degrees from bow torpedo hits on i think) for our torps. Its more like 115 degrees (with mark 10s)?