Immersive techniques for the true subsimmer!

[derstosstrupp]

Let’s keep this thread alive! Here’s one I did today showing a historical approach as one would typically read in the KTBs:

[Storm501]

Youtube is full of ambient noise videos. Including submarines.

If you listen to that with headset while the game running 1 TC or 64 TC... Amazing. You can immerse reading submarine literature. Another tip, if you have two computer monitors you can have SH5 on one screen and literature/forums on the other. SH5 works very stably windowed.

[bstanko6]

I had to look at the date when I made this thread! It feels like yesterday I wrote it. Now with all the great additions people have given to it... “Immersive techniques for the true Subsimmer” is alive and well. Thanks to all who takes time out of their day to read my nerdy rhetoric!

[Texas Red]

Originally Posted by bstanko6

I had to look at the date when I made this thread! It feels like yesterday I wrote it. Now with all the great additions people have given to it... “Immersive techniques for the true Subsimmer” is alive and well. Thanks to all who takes time out of their day to read my nerdy rhetoric!

You are very welcome!


Using some of your techniques, such as "Periscope Discipline" I managed to complete the entire SH5 game!!

I should be the one thanking you here!

And Tbh, some of your "nerdy" things are kinda cool imo.
Your setup is pretty cool, I saw the video on your YT channel.
Your immersive techniques are cool as well.

And this is coming from a middleschooler who doesn't really like the nerds in his grade. At least, they don't do the stuff you do!

Keep it up man!

[bstanko6]

LOL! Glad it helps Beast!

[derstosstrupp]

DAILY TRIM DIVE AND ETO REGULATING:

Trimming -
Dive to PD (all dives initiated at GF, ~16 kn) and drop to 1.5 kn (KF), Chief trims the boat at KF. If rough weather, instead trim at anywhere from 20-60 m. The boat was hard to hold at PD over sea states corresponding to winds over 10 m/s. So go deeper to trim at winds 11-15 m/s.

Regulating Etos -
Then to 30-60 m for an hour or two to regulate the Etos. All depth changes at 4.5 kn (HF). Cruise at 3 kn (LF).

When surfacing after running submerged awhile, first to 20 m for sound check at KF, then to PD for scope check. Up scope at just above 20 m on the way up, then SHIFT+F just before it breaks the surface so your chief holds a depth to keep the scope head low in the water. Scan, then down scope, GF (~ 7 kn) to decks awash, scan with UZO. If all clear, surface. Stay on bridge til Chief tells you you are running both diesels and can charge batteries (by then you would also know all tanks have blown). Go below, order charge batteries.

TORPEDO LOADOUT:
(Ato is G7a, Eto is G7e)

VIIA -
All bow tubes loaded with Etos. Bow reserve 2 Atos and 4 Etos. Stern tube an Ato. (Total 8 Etos, 3 Atos)

VIIB and VIIC -
All bow tubes loaded with Etos. Bow reserve 2 Atos and 4 Etos. Stern tube loaded with an Eto. Stern reserve an Ato. Both externals Atos. (Total 9 Etos, 5 Atos)

Why -
Etos required maintenance every few days on various components. Thus they needed to be accessible. The external eels therefore had to be Atos. The two Atos in the bow room were those under the floor plates. These were not immediately accessible due to the two eels sitting atop the floor plates, which were covered by wood boards (yep, bow room was a crowded place). The stern reserve was an Ato too as space for maintenance was insufficient.

Atos also needed maintenance (primarily charging the air tanks), but it was not critical to do so on a schedule as was the case with Etos.

The VIIA aft tube was not accessible and thus needed to be an Ato.

[derstosstrupp]

ATTACK CONDITIONS:

Seek to attack -
1. Out of the sun.
2. Facing the moon (from the dark side).
3. From the windward side, that is, upwind of the target.
4. For a stern shot (day) with moderate winds, say, less than 9 m/s, from the downwind side. In heavier winds, say 9 to 11 m/s, still attack from the windward side, even for a stern shot.

No submerged attacks over 11 m/s winds. These correspond to sea states at which it was nearly impossible to hold periscope depth in real life.

No submerged attacks at winds of 0 or 1 m/s. The sea is like glass, and any ripple of the scope can be seen. The only exception is on bright moonlit nights, at dusk, or with a very bright sun.

The winds corresponding to the ideal sea states for a submerged attack are 4 to 5 m/s.

For night surface attacks, anything below 15 m/s should be fine. And remember, approach on the “Hundekurve”, bow stays on target!

No recognition manual except for well-documented ships (warships, maybe Liberty ships)! IRL books did not have the extensive data that we have in the game. Use Ausdampfen (matching course/speed), plotting etc as recommended in the U.Kdt.Hdb. Only resort to data gathering through the scope in a pinch, or as confirmation of data obtained on the surface, and then only eyeballed!

[Storm501]

Tired of ending up in bad weather where you can't launch torpedos or shoot with the deck gun. Faults, premature detonations and that juicy tanker just sails away...

Why not check out the weather forecast before your patrol. It is entirely sensible that Uboat Kommandanten and BdU considered the weather in their planning.

https://app.metoceanview.com/hindcast/

On this site is a lot of solid weather data of the seas. I think the most interesting one is mean wave height. The weather patterns of the Atlantic today should not be that different from 1940. If you check out the months, you will see that North Atlantic region gets very red and high waves during winter time. So if your patrol is at such time, consider the Mediterranean, Arctic sea (very little daylight in the winter) or the South Atlantic. Return to the North Atlantic in spring.


Quick guide: https://app.metoceanview.com/hindcast/
Global summary overlay: Mean significant wave height
Choose your patrol month

[bstanko6]

I have to say thank you to all of the subscribers on YouTube! I hit over 700 subscribers! I am so glad this thread has helped so many folks and directed you to videos that help. Your subscriptions are a clear sign that what I have to say is important to you.

Thanks to all
Bob

[Macgregor the Hammer]

Bstanko6 is one of the captains I have followed for some time. I've watched his youtube videos over and over again and each time I find something new and I make a note on my reference notebook that I keep handy. In this notebook I have all the formulas, approach check lists, reminders, sonar and radar ranges, etc. It keeps growing all the time.

I've been playing Silent Hunter 4 & 5 seriously for about a year now. I keep getting better all the time. Like everything else in life: practice practice practice. I am nowhere near the playing level of Bstanko6, Fifi, Rockin' Robbins, Propbeanie and the rest of the highly experienced skippers. I don't play at 100% realism yet. I tried at first and I was not having fun! Fun is an important factor.

Breaking the periscope addiction is a must! When you do use it, no more than 30 seconds and <= 1kt. All the Silent Hunter sims have excellent TDC's, charting tools and sensor suites. My approaches start about 4,000 yds/m from my position and the solution should be dialed in pretty tight. The periscope should be used to firm up the solution before the shoot. One of my trouble spots is identifying ship type. Sticking the periscope out of the surface for 3 mins. while I thumb through the identification book has been very costly. Now, I just verify the flag and sink it.

I do run practice crash dives, emergency blows, emergency back flank so I can have an idea as to what I can expect. Radio reports, weather reports are very important. Keeping the crew's morale high is important, as is promotion, especially in TWoS.



MacGregor

[Ashikaga]

I am reading this little bookie during my long mission at the moment.

First edition, 1942.





OLtzS Ashikaga.

[Tonci87]

Be mindful of the historical context, remember at what time that book was written and published

[Ashikaga]

Well it is way less bad as I suspected it would be to be honest. I have read way worse propaganda. There is virtually no racism in it other than a few mentionings of survivors called Mulatten. For the rest it of course glorifies the missions in a completely expected way, being a historian I know how to read and recognize propaganda quite well, be that wartime or modern day stuff.

It is nevertheless very interesting reading material. Mr. Hartmann after the war became head of the Bundesmarine Schiffstammregiment (Naval Training Regiment) a short while.

Of course in hindsight it is horrible to know what effects propaganda had on so many of the German youth lured into the U boot service, which had the very worst casualty rate of the war.

OLtzS Ashikaga.

More on the author:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Hartmann

[derstosstrupp]

TVRe (TDC) Models

WHAT THEY HAD
Prior to mid-1940 or so, boats (generally VIIA and B and IXA and B) were fitted with one of two older TVRe models - the C/36 or the C/37. The differences between these are insignificant for our purposes, but the most noteworthy thing about these is they were more or less “point and shoot”. In other words, bearings were transmitted from the optics as in game but the AOB didn’t change as you rotated the optics, so AOB needed to be set for each shot. Also, the parallax correction (correcting for the lateral distance from tubes to optics) needed to be entered by hand.

In 1939 the model S3 was introduced and started being installed on VIICs and IXs in 1940. With this came the key feature “Lage laufend”, a functionality that updated AOB for every degree of bearing change caused by rotating the optics or changing own course (by way of an AOB synchro motor and connectivity to the gyrocompass). This is a HUGE advantage over older models as it allowed more freedom of maneuver and made it so subsequent targets on the same course could quickly be engaged. AOB only needed to be entered once. Also, the parallax correction was automated in this model.

WHAT WE HAVE
The TDC we have in SH3/5 functions like a blend of old and new models - it will update AOB as you rotate the scope, as the newer S3 model did, but then it doesn’t take your own course changes into account as the S3 did.

SIMULATING THE MODELS
VIIA/B or IXA/B Before mid-1940:
You have a C/36 or C/37. Determine what bearing you’d like to shoot at and set optics there. Click the TDC on to update the bearing and gyro angle then immediately off. Set the target data including AOB corresponding to that specific bearing. Do NOT turn TDC back on! Fire when the target crosses the wire. Do this for each shot. Switch targets, click on/off to update bearing, set new AOB etc, fire. Sure, you lose the transmission of the bearing but at least you don’t need to mess with the parallax correction.

Mid-1940 and later:
You have the S3. Operate as you normally would. Granted you are missing the connection to the gyrocompass so you have to reset AOB when changing course, but that’s SH3/5.

[Macgregor the Hammer]

Where can I find GOOD translations of KTB's?