Mission: Ohio close in trail

[Kapitan]

Many americans pride thier ohio's as being one of the quietest submarines built, and even though i am mainly a russian sub fanatic, ohio is one of my favorite boats.

The following happend as i was returning home to base near murmansk under the polar ice cap:

Heading home after trailing a french submarine, to which was sucsessful, i litteraly bumped into a ohio near greenland under the ice.
It was purely by accident that i found her, as i wasnt looking out for any other contacts at that time.

Heading south on a course of 172 i stumbled upon a strange outline on my HF sonar, i slowed down to let my other sonars take a look, low and behold on my towed array narrow band it picked up submarine.

Thinking i had found the french again i decided for one last try at trailing her.
I had lost the french submarine some time earlier after trailing it for several hours despite the mission being sucsess i thought why not another hit.

I put a manual contact on the nav map to where i thought the submarine would go, low and behold it was quite close so i started to set up track, managing to get right behind the submarine.

From the top it looked well wierd, it was then i realised i wasnt trailing the french boat, but i was trailing an american submarine, at first i though it was the standard 688, but my sonars kept throwing back ohio.






As you can see i did get in fairley close, and yes i did in the end loose her, but i managed to get just over half hours worth of trailing before i surfaced in a hole in the ice to see if the MP aircraft had found anything and what not, by the time i submerged again it was long gone

But hey i was happy i know what the ohio sounds like now this is the third time ive trailed one sucsessfully, one trail in the atlantic ended in me ramming the later confirmed USS Rhode island, and the trail before that ended only 5 minuets after it had started.

The area i found the Ohio in was near greenland about 200 or 300 miles from the coast under heavy ice, all the submarines in the game start with random start points so i never know where i and my enamy will start at.

As you can see its heavy ice just what i like.


And here this is where my sonars put the ohio roughl, so i did get in fairley close, even if i did loose this submarine i now know what signs to look for.

The ohio even in the game is a deadly platform i do wish we could control it, and it is quiet ! i only heard it because i saw it first.
This submarine just shows how good american SSBN's are !

[goldorak]

Well I wouldn't take a game as a mesure of how quite or difficult an ohio submarine is to track in real life.
By the way I'm reading the book "Cold war submarines" and its very interesting to note how the american military establishment pushed for very conservatives techniques (passive sonar detection and quieting techniques) whereas the russians had a much more eclectic approach to submarine dectection (some methods not being centered around passive sonar detection).
Its a real pity that those tecnologies are not modelled in the simulation.
It could put russian on the par with the seawolf or even best it.

[Kapitan]

Akulas are about to get replaced within the next 15 years by the new generation sevdvinsk if they ever start work on them.

The akula i command is K157 Tigr however im going to change it to K154 Vepr very soon.

The akula for me is the best submarine there is, but it has its limitations and draw back the seawolf are for those who want the complication, i dont want that.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

Heading south on a course of 172 i stumbled upon a strange outline on my HF sonar, i slowed down to let my other sonars take a look, low and behold on my towed array narrow band it picked up submarine.

Just blame the game - the HF sonar isn't counterdetectable...

As you can see its heavy ice just what i like.

How did you make the ice show up so well on the Nav map?

[Kapitan]

I pushed shift I a few times and it showed up.

[kgsuarez]

That is cool. I wonder if the ice on the map is accurate. For example, where there is an empty spot on the map, would it be safe to surface there?

[Kapitan]

Yes the map is quite accurate, not 100% but it is accurate and safe to surface in them holes, infact i recomend surfacing in the holes because surfacing through the ice you might damage your submarine.

[MaHuJa]

There is a thin layer of ice beyond what the map shows, but I don't know if it will damage your sub if you have forward motion at the time, nor do I know if it's think enough to keep missiles from launching or airdropped torpedoes from landing.

[Kapitan]

There is one map that shots the ice sheet then theres this one which shows you the detail of the ice, but any ice no matter how thick you would sucsessfuly fire missiles or drop torpedos in this region.

Ive played in this region in many scenarios my missiles fail all the time even from 20 meters they bounce off the ice.

As for going forward and hitting the ice you can slow speed but its not sensible.

[kgsuarez]

Well, as far as I know, real subs have to come to a stop before surfacing through the ice. They also have to be moving upward fast enough to break through. If not they will damage themselves.

[Kapitan]

This is the point ive made, and have written down in my under ice guide.

Submarine:

Before surfacing through any ice you must come to a complete stop, then reel in a towed array should it be deployed.

Once you have done this you should be at around 80 feet or 30 meters, you are cleared to order surface, do not push the emergency blow it races you forward and you will damage your submarine.

All masts and wires should be fully retracted incasae of any ice either bending them which will result in a total loss of said masts, or severing of the towed array and floating wire.

Note the floating wire is next to useless under ice.