Size and manning of the conning tower.

[Nisgeis]

Hi everyone. I have a few questions about the conning tower and who does what, for those that are in the know.

1. Is the size of the later conning towers in the later subs accurate? I know it was cramped in there and certainly busy for its small size, but it seems that looking at the game's conning tower, there isn't enough room to bend down to look into the periscope and rotate it around, without the radar man, guy at the plot table and the TDC operator all moving out of the way. Even the observation periscope seems to be a bit close. Is it the right size and you just have to be a contortionist?

2. Also, for anyone that may know, if you submerge and the radar sets are secured, does the radar operator leave his station, or does he stay there with the set off on standby?

3. Was there only one radar operator who checked both radar screens, or was there one operator for each set.

4. While I'm asking, who should be in the conning tower during an attack? As far as I can make out from reading the manuals over at HSNA, there should be:

2x Sonar Operators on each of the sets (if submerged?)
?x Radar Operator(s) during surface attack.
1x TDC Operator (on main TDC)
1x Assistant TDC Operator (on gyro angle solver)
1x Approach Officer (on Periscope)
1x Periscope Assistant
1x Firing Key Operator.

And the following, I'm not sure where they should go:

1x The Navigational Plotter has a station at the Dead Reckoning Tracer, but where is that? In the control room or the conning tower?
1x Sonar Plotter. control room or conning tower?
1x Helm. Would the helm be manned in the conning tower, or in the control room?

Is this correct? It certainly seems crowded up there.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Nisgeis.

[M. Sarsfield]

I've been in the real deal, as for as conning towers go. The in-game dimensions looks pretty accurate. I always wondered why they didn't add a few extra feet to it - length-wise.

[AVGWarhawk]

All told, up to 8-9 men could be in there during attack run. The conning tower in game looks a bit larger to me but it is close. I'm not a large person but it feels very tight to me when I go to con on the Torsk. On your list, the helm I believe would be manned in the con.

[Gino]

The whole attack party in the conning tower was a max of 11 people by the end of the war.
As far as radar goes, and looking at the Cod. The SD radar display (only range, no PPI) was in the control room. The SJ and later the periscope radar (was that SH?) has only one stool in front of it. So probably only one operator that controlled the whole set
Sonar, indeed that could be two, however, I think in the conning tower there was only one operator using either set (there is only one stool there). The other sonar operator(s) were in the Fwd Torpedo room.
TDC, indeed two,
Periscope two,
Firing key operator 1,
Helmsman is in the conning tower 1,
Plot at least 1,
CO who could also be the attack officer, or would 'drive' the boat (As Morton did on Wahoo)
Exec, who would 'drive' the boat, or who could be the attack officer (Wahoo)

Add a "Talker", a guy that communicates with the rest of the boat (but mainly torp rooms, and maneuvring)

I'm down to 9-10 now....mmmm pretty close eh?

I'll check with my resources.

Oh, and the radar operator would not leave his post when diving. He simply had tgo be there in case they would surface. And, with that amount of people there it would be a nuisance to have him squeeze through the crowd during an attack...

groetjes,

[Nuc]

Friedman's U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History shows plan views of several conning tower layouts with various stations. I believe the maximum shown is 11. When I get home sunday I'll scan and upload.

[LukeFF]

For the sonar, there would be two men manning the sonar stack in the conning tower when at battlestations. There's two handles and displays there for them to use. So, in theory at least, there could be three sonar operators on duty when at battlestations. (The conning tower sonar is the supersonic listening post, and the torpedo room sonar is the sonic post):

Link

In the conning tower

The photograph below shows a WCA stack, in which five units are grouped for efficient supersonic operation. There are separate remote-control units for the starboard (QB) and port (JK/QC) projectors, each with its receiver-amplifier. During routine search only one type of supersonic gear is manned. But when a contact is reported, QB is taken over by the sonar operator whose battle station is at the stack, and a second operator mans JK/QC. Normally during an attack, QB tracks the target, while JK searches for other ships. The range indicator is not used for listening.

As for the SD Radar, the only thing the Fleet Type Submarine Manual says is:

"Insure that the proper watch is maintained on the control room (SD) radar when ordered manned, and that any contact, however doubtful, is reported instantly to the OOD."

[Gino]

Ok,

So I wstand corrected ...two sonar operators during an attack.

Makes 11 on my group...

groetjes,

[Nisgeis]

Great info, thanks for the replies. So, the helm is manned in the con, that's good. I'm not at my gaming PC now, so I can't check, but I remember there being a speed repeater as well as depth and RPM repeaters, but I don't recall there being a telegraph in the con. Is it missing? I'll have to check tonight.

In the game's con, is the helm facing forward - that would mean that the default position for the attack and observation periscope is to come up facing 180 degrees?

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

Great info, thanks for the replies. So, the helm is manned in the con, that's good. I'm not at my gaming PC now, so I can't check, but I remember there being a speed repeater as well as depth and RPM repeaters, but I don't recall there being a telegraph in the con. Is it missing? I'll have to check tonight.

There are telegraphs in the con in all of the fleet boat interiors. The S boats, of course, don't have a conning tower.