What happens when the sub goes beyond test depth?

[Zero Niner]

From what I've read about it, a sub can exceed test depth (within reason) without adverse consequences. For example, Dick O'Kane when he was testing the Tang brought it down to 600' I believe.

So what happens in the game, and specifically in TMO? Is there an invisible "safe depth" where the sub does not accumulate damage, or does damage start to accumulate slowly as soon as one exceeds test depth (say I go to 325' in a Gato-class sub). Or does damage kick in after I remain below test depth for a period of time? Or a combination of both?

[Fearless]

Hmm! I went down to 370 feet in the Gato the needle on the dept gauge indicated depth reachable was 450 feet but it crushed at 380 feet. I'm using RFB though.

[Peto]

You'll hear glass start to break when you go too deep. And then the hull starts taking hit point damage. If you don't get back up to a safe depth, you're not going to come back up at all.

I don't know what the crush depths are in TM as Ducimus and his work remain enigmas to the common man .

Crush depths will be changing in RFB with the next release. IMO--everyone should find out for themselves how deep they can go (or not) :hmm:. It's the good ol' pucker factor that make these sims fun IMO.

As for the Tang's deep dive: It went to 700 feet. But it's good to keep in mind that that was an exceptional case. We'll never know how many Balaos didn't make it at lesser depths than that...

Cheers!

Peto

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by Peto

As for the Tang's deep dive: It went to 700 feet.

I think the theorhetical crush depth the USS Tang (a Balao class submarine) was rated for was 438 feet, but the Captain believed that double this value was the true crush depth.

Zero Niner is correct and so are you Peto, when O'Kane was testing, as Zero Niner said, the submarine went to 612 feet, which was just off the scale. Later, when evading and with some loss of depth control the Tang went to 700 feet, a fact that was kept secret by those that knew. The captain only found out the true depth the Tang had reached whilst in captivity after the Tang sunk, by her own malfunctioning torpedo. He believed the men had exercised good judgement by not revealing the true depth the Tang had reached.

As O'Kane's test dive proved, the weak link was not the pressure hull, but the fittings attached to the pressure hull, which caused a weak spot, either due to the equipment itself, or the method of attachment.

If you read Wahoo, then there is a section in that where the author hears that two of the Wahoo's sister boats had sunk, fairly soon after construction. He theorised that there was some flaw in the construction and initiated a thorough inspection of the boat. He found a large bore pipe that was open to sea that did not have two of its four bolts in the flange, as the bolt holes closest to the hull would have been difficult to get a standard spanner (wrench) into. He had a specially shaped tool made and that was used to bolt the the flange properly. He then advised other boats that had been made at that same yard and they too found these bolts were missing.

As O'Kane said in 'Clear the Bridge' about the relief crews and repairmen: There were some jobs that the men would not entrust to people who would not be diving with us.

[tigone]

This weekend my daughter interviewed a former submariner (served on U.S.S. Blenny, a Balao-Class boat, in the early 1950s) who said that while his boat had an official test depth of 300 feet, the actual crush depth was about three times that, or 900 feet.

O'Kane's analysis, as reported by Nisgeis, sure sounds right, that it's at the fittings, not so much the hull itself, where the problems generally occur. There are a surprising number of openings, large and small, required in the pressure hull for a submarine to function effectively. Any of these, it would seem, would be apt to fail before the hull itself.

[Nisgeis]

According to Norman Friedman's US submarines through 1945, they conducted tests of rivetted hulls versus welded hulls with respect to their resistance against depth charges and found the latter superior. It always amazed me though, that as far as I know, no tests on actual crush depth were carried out. With the number of submarines being scrapped after the war, I find this incredible. Surely one submarine could have been tested to destruction in the post war years?

Does anyone know if they did in fact test this?

[Orion2012]

Originally Posted by Peto

You'll hear glass start to break when you go too deep. And then the hull starts taking hit point damage. If you don't get back up to a safe depth, you're not going to come back up at all.

I don't know what the crush depths are in TM as Ducimus and his work remain enigmas to the common man .

Crush depths will be changing in RFB with the next release. IMO--everyone should find out for themselves how deep they can go (or not) :hmm:. It's the good ol' pucker factor that make these sims fun IMO.

As for the Tang's deep dive: It went to 700 feet. But it's good to keep in mind that that was an exceptional case. We'll never know how many Balaos didn't make it at lesser depths than that...

Cheers!

Peto

I've been to 560 in a Balao Class with TMO. Test Depth being 400.

[Monica Lewinsky]

Originally Posted by Zero Niner

So what happens in the game.

You die and are forced to watch this single flick in your Iron Coffin over, and over again through the end of time itself, that Sailor Steve finds interesting:

[gimpy117]

realistice crush depth mod I've made it to 1,000 in a Balao (the chopper IRL made it to 1000 or so)