So how did a captain decide the tonnage of a sunken ship?

Erich dem Roten · 01-20-09, 08:01 PM

I'm sure that ID books could be used to get a tonnage estimate, but to write down "5083 tons" seems a bit precise. I mean, if it was an attack at night or in bad weather, unless they could positively identify the ship it seems like it would be a best guess.

Looking back to a couple books I've read recently about subs, including Werner's 'Iron Coffins' and a book about the U.S.S. Tang (Richard O'Kane's boat) it seems many times firing solutions were made quickly and under tremendous stress. How historically accurate are the numbers we see today?

01-20-09, 08:01 PM	#1
Erich dem Roten Electrician's Mate Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Connecticut Posts: 134 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	So how did a captain decide the tonnage of a sunken ship? I'm sure that ID books could be used to get a tonnage estimate, but to write down "5083 tons" seems a bit precise. I mean, if it was an attack at night or in bad weather, unless they could positively identify the ship it seems like it would be a best guess. Looking back to a couple books I've read recently about subs, including Werner's 'Iron Coffins' and a book about the U.S.S. Tang (Richard O'Kane's boat) it seems many times firing solutions were made quickly and under tremendous stress. How historically accurate are the numbers we see today? __________________