ROCKIN ROBBINS SH4 TARGET INFORMTION REQUIRMENT
When I have to find AoB I already have the information to measure it directly off the plot. I'm going to assume imperial measurements here, but if you're using metric the time is three minutes fifteen seconds and you're measuring in meters. Conversion works the same way.
Let me explain. The first piece of info I need is the target speed. So the scope goes up and I switch to the nav map. Pop up the stopwatch, mark the ship's location, start the stopwatch and down scope. At 2:40 or so, pop up the scope, lock on the target and switch to the nav map. At 3 minutes, mark the position of the target and down scope.
First, take the ruler tool and connect the marks, extending the line in the direction of the target's movement. This is the track: the course the target is on. If help is on (by opening the compass) you can use the compass rose on the ruler tool to read off the target's true course.
Then you need the speed of the target. With the compass tool click on one mark and drag to the other. You can then read the number of yards the radius of that circle is. The speed in knots is the number of hundred yards (or meters) run during the time. So if the ship sent 750 yards, the speed is 7.5 knots. 1200 yards = 12 kt. You can enter that speed in the TDC right now.
It's time to find that Angle on the Bow. Up periscope and lock on the target. Switch to the nav map and use the protractor tool (shaped like a triangle). Left-click on the track ahead of the target, then on the middle of the target and finally on the middle of your submarine. You'll see the angle measurement beside your target at the apex of the angle. That's your AoB. Now it's starboard or port, depending on whether you are looking at the starboard or port side of the target.
Simple enough? And you got an elementary course in plotting too! I encourage you to use a plot instead of the crew estimate method. You can't check the crew estimate. They can tell you any old thing and the first clue you have is when the torpedo misses.
credit acknowledgement to Rockin Robin
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