In a pigboat again! Training a periscope eye

[Kpt. Weyprecht]

I'm back roaming the Pacific! My old saved games are gone with a previous install and I had to fire up Windows again but there I am taking command of an S-boat.

I was planning on a fully realistic campaign with no map updates and maybe even restricting myself to 0-gyro angle shots to emulate the lack of a TDC...

My resolve didn't survive the first encounter with a task force off Lingayen Gulf. I can't manage to build a decent amount of situational awareness. I can be reasonably accurate with with my periscope ranges on a lone target from a fairly close distance but I'm not good enough to set up a good attack on a zigzagging taskforce.
I wonder if I could have more success in a u-boat. Still, any tactical tips on gathering information from afar, when ranging is really inaccurate? I feel I should switch to drawing on paper ang doing things really slowly but with the trips from homeport to patrol area I ended up smashing the TC button again.


By the way -- at first I lanuched a Brisbane campaign, but I somehow missed all the action around Guadalcanal and spoent 3 patrols in empty seas, only getting some ships off Rabaul.

[smm]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Weyprecht

I'm back roaming the Pacific! My old saved games are gone with a previous install and I had to fire up Windows again but there I am taking command of an S-boat.

I was planning on a fully realistic campaign with no map updates and maybe even restricting myself to 0-gyro angle shots to emulate the lack of a TDC...

My resolve didn't survive the first encounter with a task force off Lingayen Gulf. I can't manage to build a decent amount of situational awareness. I can be reasonably accurate with with my periscope ranges on a lone target from a fairly close distance but I'm not good enough to set up a good attack on a zigzagging taskforce.
I wonder if I could have more success in a u-boat. Still, any tactical tips on gathering information from afar, when ranging is really inaccurate? I feel I should switch to drawing on paper ang doing things really slowly but with the trips from homeport to patrol area I ended up smashing the TC button again.


By the way -- at first I lanuched a Brisbane campaign, but I somehow missed all the action around Guadalcanal and spoent 3 patrols in empty seas, only getting some ships off Rabaul.

I'll start at the end . I had massive amounts of stuff around Rabaul - sunk two BBs, bunch of MS etc. The only sinking outside of that area was two CVs in a TF heading to Solomons in south Solomon Sea just past the Coral Sea battles. Have a look at my videos if you want (playlist at the end of the post)



On the rest - O'Kane's method can be used even on zigzagging target. I used it when I sunk the CVs. That is, as long as the zig-zags are relatively predictable, i.e. the ships follow a stable pattern, sort of a waveform.


Then you find its axis, and you can do two things. You can measure speed component along that axis, and figure out where are the points where they change directions (a crest or a through of a wave). If you line your torpedoes to aim at that point, you'd have pretty good chance of hitting, although I'd recommend not to aim all torpedoes at the same place of the ship. The ships should be slightly faster here than the axis component you measured, assuming you measured across at least one wave (better two), as they should be moving more or less close to the wave axis. How much by depends on the amplitude and the length of the wave, and is not really easy to to calculate off the top of your head, but if you're close enough (800 yrds, or even less as long as your torpedoes arm), you'd be ok.



At least that's what worked for me.


If they zig-zag randomly, then I'd say spread of torpedoes from short distance and trust your luck is all you can reasonably do, since I saw some of these ships to turn on a penny.



-smm



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...URENsweTLFfzYd)

[Kpt. Weyprecht]

Greqt videos! I subscribed right away and am eagerly waiting for the next episodes. Also; you had some incredible luck in this campaign. Perhaps unrelated, but I am still amazed at how great this game can look despite it's age. The night skies in your last videos are just gorgeous (and I don't think I've seen anything like this).


Back to the point, I was really thinking more of broad tactics than of torpedo techniques. The USN Submarine Fire Control Manual says one should have a clear image of the situation and a plan of the attack before the target gets within 6000 yards. I struggle to do this, my ranging is really bad beyond 6000-5000 yards. It's actually ll about this "periscope eye" that is the trademark of real submarine skippers and lack thereoff eliminates Perisher candidates, aggravated by the flat computer screen.

Following several targets requires a lot of time and attention, especially when 80% of your gaming time had been expanded on watching your sub roam a patch of empty sea.

I know we are trying to do individually what a whole team would do in real life (still, in old British boats, H-type if my memory is good, the captain actually was his own navigator, Ben Bryant refers to this as a great learning experience).
This makes me think: are there any Royal Navy references besides the Admiralty Navigation manual available online?


PS: I never expected this thread to end up featrured on Subsim's front page. Thanks, Onkel Neal!

[smm]

Thanks .

I have had indeed incredible amount of luck on the campaign, to the point where it now feels way too easy .



One of the reason why Patrol 4 will be on a Salmon class, get those Mk14 duds in (having installed lotz_duds mod).



Re situational awareness - do you mean marking the contacts on the map (relative to your ship?).



That IMO is really the hardest part by far (the distance being really the killer) - and since this was my return to SH4 after years, the bit I don't do at the moment. I still need to brush up on that, and when I take up another campaign, I'll do that, as a challenge.




Something (lite) on UK doctrine can be found in Tim Clayton's Sea Wolves.

[Kpt. Weyprecht]

I think to an extent all the S-boat campaigns are too easy, they performe ingame as if they were brand new (and equipped with a TDC), in real life it seems like something broke every time they met a wave... But it's still challenging.
I really like the Salmon, for some reason I've always been more successful in the Salmon than in the Tambor (and never went far enough to have any achevement in the Gato).


I was thinking of following all the contacts, either on the map or mentally, but not getting fixated on that one ship I'm targetting, understanding rapidly what the enemy formation is, how much space I have between the escorts and the escorted, or between columns, not getting confused between logging the own sub positions, visual observations, sonar...

I remember the old BBC series about the Perisher course (the one filmed in an Oberon), where the candidate is taking ranges and juggling three or four stopwatches... and he is not alone in his sub.


I have to check Sea Wolves, I read Ben Bryant's Submarine Commander (I heard it used to be required reading for Perisher candidates), clearly one of my very favourite submarine accounts.

[smm]

Yes, S-boats perform way better than they should. TDC I don't mind that much TBH, but the breakages messed a lot of things up. New subs had breakages and all, never mind these..



Ah well, maybe someone in the future will do the pacific theatre again, not just all U-boats ...



-smm