Towed Array Sonar quick-tip: Resolution of ambiguous bearings is simple. As in a sub, you will turn the ship. You must then watch the contact's trace on the Broadband display; if it moves UP, resolve the bearing of the contact in the direction of your turn. If it moves DOWN, resolve the bearing of the contact in the direction opposite your turn.

Hull Sonar: I have not yet found a reason to use Single-Beam or Omni modes while using Active Sonar. Omni-Rotational is the mode of choice when prosecuting submerged contacts.

Helo Ops: NEVER-NEVER-NEVER put the FFG CIWS System in FULL AUTO when conducting Helo take-offs and landings… the CIWS system will shoot down the Helo. Instead, if you are expecting threat missiles and MUST launch or recover a helo, set the CIWS system to AUTO.

Engaging submerged targets with the MH-60: In single-player missions, you can send an embarked AI Helo to attack an enemy sub without being concerned that the sub will surface and shoot your helo down with a SAM, even though the AI helo will hover right over the target datum when it drops its weapon. The AI subs’ loadout does not include the shoulder-fired SAMs. However, in Multiplayer missions, you’d better bring a friend along to fly your helo for you. A human pilot in the MH-60 will more likely be smart enough to stay out of the enemy sub’s SAM range when he launches a torpedo.

Torpedoes: Your torpedoes (Mk 46 and Mk 50) have a short range compared to heavyweight torpedoes (MK 48 and UGST) that carry more fuel. If you try to get within range of an enemy submarine in order to use your torpedoes for a kill, you may find yourself regretting that decision while trying to evade your enemy’s torpedoes or missiles. Instead, use your torpedoes as a "scare-off" weapon to force an enemy sub to break off an attack or approach; they can also be used when a submarine is detected at close range (for example, a Kilo, which is hard to detect passively and might sneak up on you, or in poor acoustic conditions). One other use for your torpedoes would be in weather conditions that would not permit helo operations.

Your primary means of engaging a submerged target should be the MH-60 helicopter. It adds range to your sensors and your weapons, and it’s a faster way to put "steel on target".

EMCON: For a surface vessel, your ship is very quiet to begin with, and while it is not "stealthy", it can be difficult to classify, under the right conditions. One of these conditions is that your ship is at EMCON. EMCON stands for Emission Control, and refers to the securing of any electronic emissions (RF Comms, Radar, Sonar). If visibility is good and you do not expect any surface or air threats, secure (turn off) your surface and air radars. Also, if you believe that the tactical conditions permit, you should limit your usage of active sonar as much as possible. If you begin a mission by pinging away on active sonar, you will have already given away your presence as an ASW threat to your prey, even if he can only see one narrowband line from your ship. This reduces or cancels whatever degree of surprise that you may have had.

SSMs: The FFG’s Surface-to-Surface missiles will not hit a surfaced submarine. However, the ASMs from the P-3 and MH-60 WILL hit a surfaced submarine (more on this later).

CIWS: Remember that the CIWS system has a no-fire zone at the bow of the ship. If you are expecting threat missiles from ahead of ownship, approach your target from an angle that will allow the CIWS to engage incoming missiles.

EMCON: The same tips from above apply for EMCON when engaging surface contacts.

.50-Caliber Ops: The .50 Caliber machine gun is only effective against small craft. No matter how long you pump rounds into that Supertanker, it will not show damage or be damaged. Don’t even try.

There is not much to say about the Kilo with regard to ASW operations. The Kilo, with no towed array, is not likely to detect the most modern threat submarines. The best advice for the Kilo driver is to keep a couple of USET-80 or TEST-71M torpedoes at the ready for a Snapshot if inbound torpedoes are reported. Some Kilo models do carry the SS-N-15 Starfish standoff missile/torpedo; this weapon would most likely be used by the Kilo driver who has learned about an enemy sub’s location via the Link, and is tasked to use his Starfish against the target.

The Kilo’s best protection against submerged threats is its STEALTH. As a modern diesel-electric submarine, the Kilo is quieter at typical patrol speeds than any of the other playable submarines in SCS-Dangerous Waters. Cavitation or snorkeling (to recharge batteries) means all bets are off, and you will lose your stealth advantage during those times.

A couple of good general rules to maintain stealth in the Kilo are:

- DON’T CAVITATE.

- If your sonar displays are washed out, you are probably going too fast for stealth. Slow down.

As a lead beta tester, I have been testing intensively the FFG and the helo. I can tell you the things I have learned about the platform and how to make the most use of it.

First thing to do when mission starts is deploy a BT buoy If sea condition and mission warrants make sure you have the Towed array deployed. If the helo is going to be needed I update its alert status to the needed one or even launch it. Load a SM-2 on the rail and if not friendly aircraft nearby place the CIWS in AUTO.

Avoid using the active sonar unless you want to refine a contact position solution or there is a reason for this. AI subs fire on Active sonar bearing easily most of the time. However I use active as well to detect surface platforms while I maintain ENCOM. Works nice :-) and you can fire an SM-2 on a target generated by active sonar. I keep a 1/3 or 2/3 speed most for the time with 60+ change of heading every 5 minutes if I am playing cat and mouse with subs and from time to time a 180ª

Sometimes I make a sprint run to confuse any TMA plotting they may have on me. I know how the subs TMA plot works so I chrono my maneuvering to screw its solution to the max. ;) I make some buoy releases considering the thermal layer depth and spacing the buoys evenly but avoiding to place them close to known neutral surface contacts.

As soon as I have a possible submerged contact bearing I will make a radical course change to resolve ambiguity and to mess up its TMA solution (It surely got me plotted by then) If I have the helo airborne I let it take care of the contact while I clear datum.

If no helo then I launch a full salvo of 3 torpedoes on it and reverse course 180 degrees and go flank speed for 4-5 minutes and after that I take a course to open range with target. Just before this salvo I use the active sonar to have the best fire solution for the torps.

If the enemy fires on me I deploy the Nixie and depending on the range to the contact initiate evasion maneuvering (evasion tactics are highly classified). One important thing to remember on a missile rich environment is that the Flares and Chaff are not automatically reloaded so if the AI deploy many of them you better visit Bridge and manually reload them.

If the frigate is among other more capable allied warships it is really useful to promote all enemy missile and aircraft contacts to LINK. This way you can have help from the other ships downing all vampires. I always load 40 SM-2. The Harpoon on this game is not as useful as the SM-2. The enemy destroy it too easily while the SM-2 gets a better impact rate and can be used against airplanes and surface ships so easy choice and most effective. The only good point about using a Harpoon is that against a Human player you can make the missile proceed towards the enemy vessel from a different bearing that your own thus confusing the human adversary although since he will already have detected you at the same time anyway, this is not a failsafe tactic.

I use to maintain ENCOM unless there is enemy radar active. Enemy AI have no trouble to sort out neutral targets from warships so expect a enemy salvo in short time after being painted by radar. Better be able to return it and keep him busy as well.

I have developed some search patterns as well as some effective torpedo evasive maneuvering but this I will keep them for me to use the first time I have the chance to have an MP against you :-) (Cannot wait for the next Otto Krestchmer Cup using an FFG).

For the helicopter what I do is to make a search on the widest or most external area of the search zone using VLAD and DIFAR. Always have radar ON unless there is enemy warships nearby. I want to know if the sub is coming to surface to fire o me.

I travel fast while deploying buoys and always have the MAD sensor extended in case I get lucky. Once I get the first bearings on the Nav map I follow the bearing with the MAD sensor and if there is no lucky I make a triangle of DIFAR buoys surrounding the suspected location of the sub. Once I have a more or less idea about where it is I dip my sonar and go active. This gives me its exact location. Now I have to act fast. If human opponent I will immediately release a torp even with dipping sonar in water, just to keep enemy busy. While I am on water with sonar submerged I am very vulnerable to its SAM and once he hears the PING he may consider killing me easily so I would drop a torp just after marking its active sonar position and I will clear datum. If the other buoys tell me the sum is in the move to avoid my first torp, thus busy, I will position myself in front of him and drop a second torp on him this time head on.

If the Dipping Sonar is in the Water, .. the safest speed that you can fly at, .. without ripping the Dipping Sonar off, ... is ~30 knots. However, ... I recommend you not go above 25 knots.

Use of the Dipping Sonar, .. i.e. monitoring for contacts, .. is good up to 8 knots, .. as any faster than that, .. and the Sonar will 'wash out', .. and you will lose contact information. 5 knots is better ... . However, the only time when you would NEED to be moving, .. whilst Dipping, .. is when you are actually closing with the contact ... in other words .. to close the range, .. but, this would be fine-tuning. You can close much faster at 20 - 25 knots, .. and even faster, if you increase your altitude so that the Dipping Sonar clears the water, .. and set your speed up to 80 knots.

If you have the Dipping Sonar out of the water, ... your maximum safe speed is ~90 knots, .. but, again ... I would recommend you not go above 80 knots. One of the most important things to remember, .. when flying the Helo, ... and Dipping, ... is that the speed shown on the Taskbar, .. or at the Pilot's Station, ... is Relative Speed ... NOT Ground (actual) Speed.

This is very important when giving Speed Change orders. Although you may be hovering (ground speed = ~0), .. your relative speed may be 15 knots, .. as a result of the wind speed. If you want to move off at 5 knots .... DO NOT add 5 knots to your indicated speed, .. as that will be interpreted as 20 knots. Irrespective of whatever speed is displayed, ... set your speed for the ACTUAL speed you want to fly at. DO NOT add or subtract from your indicated speed.

When it comes to wind speed, ... the relative speed of the Helo can be a little misleading. Relative Speed on the Helo, .. is considered in the Fore and Aft plane only ... NOT lateral. So, .. if you had a 10 knot wind blowing FROM 270 degrees, ... and you were hovering with your heading at 000 degrees, .. your relative speed will now indicate 0 knots. This is technically incorrect, .. as the Helo still has a Relative Speed, ... but in the lateral plane. It's not a major issue, .. if you set your speed for 0 knots, ... no matter which way you are heading ... your ground speed will always be 0 knots. You will experience some drift, .. but it's in no way close to any indicated speed on the taskbar or pilot station.

Couple of tips for the Demo:-

The Mission takes place in Shallow Water, .. thus your 'Deep' buoys will be useless. They operate at 400 feet, .. and in the Demo Mission they will end up in the Mud. So, .. at the Loadout screen, .. chuck out all the Deep Buoys, .. and stock up on the Shallow Ones. At the same time, .. throw out all the BT Buoys, .. for the same reason above ... you won't be needing them.

The default 'Dipping' height is 50 feet ... shortcut key=Shift+2. If you use the default height, .. you only need to stream the hydrophone out to 150 feet. That'll give you 100 feet in the water, .. which is sufficient for operating in Shallow waters. If you prefer to hover higher (there will be instances when you will WANT to do that, .. but not in the demo) .... then adjust the hydrophone cable length accordingly.

Be very careful about hovering low e.g. 50 feet, ... and then moving off at high speed. The Helo will drop in altitude as it moves forward, ... and the greater the increase in speed, ... the greater the tilt of the rotor, .. which will cause the Helo to lose altitude abruptly .... and you'll probably end up ... swimming with da fishes.

1st Update: DICASS buoys need 3 Grams to use them in ACTIVE Mode (pinging). If all your Grams are currently tuned to other buoys, ... in addition to the DICASS buoy, ... then use the GRAM CONTROL selection buttons and the FREQUENCY SELECT wheels ... to re-tune those Grams to Channel 00. This will clear any data from the Gram. As soon as you have 2 non-assigned Grams, .. then click the MODE switch on the DICASS buoy, ... the first click will put the DICASS into Directional Mode (uses 2 Grams), .. and a subsequent click of the MODE switch, .. will put the DICASS into Active Mode (using 3 Grams). Although the DICASS is now in Active Mode, ... you still need to start pinging, .. by pressing the XMIT button on the lower left of the controlling Gram. The XMIT will ONLY appear, .. once the DICASS buoy has been put into Active Mode.

Using MAD. Firstly, .. although the MAD sensor is streamed, ... it is not automatically ON. You need to turn the MAD on from the MAD/ESM station. The autocrew does not need to be on for them to report MAD/SAD detections. The only time you will need to turn the Autocrew on, at the MAD/ESM station, .. is for ESM detections.

Although every situation could be different, ... a good MAD/SAD search altitude would be ~250 to 300 Feet. Speed is not critical, ... but, keep it below ~80 knots.

Merging Contacts. You cannot 'Merge' contacts on the Helo. Lines of intersection, from your buoy detections, .. are the way to triangulate a solution. You will need to 'manually' update i.e. MARK ... the contacts from time to time ... in order that the Nav Map can display a new intersection point.

• To locate your team, you may need to use your radar and your periscope and maneuver as close as possible to the raft.

• When you are within the time, speed and location parameters specified in your tasking message.

There are no numbers on the Akula bearing Indicators for the inner arrays. You must refer to the numbers on the outer edge of the display.

Be aware that when you turn Ownship your towed array does not begin to turn until it reaches the point in the ocean where the ship began its turn. As a result, Ownship appears as a contact on the towed array during turns.

Ownship’s speed can affect your ability to detect contacts in Narrowband. When the entire signal line is near the top of the display this indicates that background noise is very high. This usually happens when your speed is over 5 kts for hull array contacts or over 15 kts for towed array contacts. Decrease your speed to reduce water flow over the array.

Straight lines indicate a consistent signal. Curved or wavy vertical lines represent distortions or variations in the signal.

If the signal is weak you may have to click more than once to designate the contact and assign the tracker.

You cannot assign a tracker while the game is paused.

If the contact that you have classified in Narrowband has not yet been assigned a Contact ID (S1, S2 etc), a contact ID symbol does not exist for that contact on the Nav map. You can not complete the contact classification process on the Nav map until the contact has been assigned a Contact ID.

You can classify contacts in ESM, Stadimeter and Narrowband. The Classification dialog highlights the name of the class that was most recently classified by one of these sensors whenever you select that contact on the Nav map.

Turns per knot for military and civilian ships are found in USNI Reference. Click CIVILIAN in the Country column then the name of the ship type to find TPK information on Civilian ships.

To stop the transmission of continuous active sonar pings on any of the submarines, click again on the TRANSMIT button

Due to varying water temperatures at locations around the world, a distinct thermal layer is not always present.

People complaining about the auto-crew picking up contacts that you can't see in the waterfall. Well they may not show up graphically, but if you scan the bearings, you will get a small signal-to-noise hit of 4 to 8 or so.  This is a potential contact even though it doesn't come through on the speakers, doesn't show a line in ITA, and can't be classified in narrowband.  S/N is shown in the Seawolf on the right numerical data display, can't remember off hand if/where it is on the Akula or 688i. by Paul Tobia

"I was playing "Iran the Straits" last night and things were going fine when all of a sudden my towed array started showing bright background noise as if I were moving at high speed, which I wasn't. The bow sonar didn't display this noise. In the narrowband sensors, it kept pulsing between high-noise and low-noise readings but eventually settled on high-noise." The game models physics very carefully. In shallow water at low speeds your towed array can actually drag the bottom and cause the phenomenon above. Retract it some, gain speed, or change your depth.

The passive sonar modeling in Dangerous Waters was modified from 688I in an
effort to upgrade the sonar detection and classification performance. Sub
Command models the individual variables in the passive sonar equation:

Passive Sonar Signal Excess = Radiated Noise - Propagation Loss - Interfering Noise - Recognition Differential


1. Radiated Noise is the initial source level of the signal that emanates
from the contact. Broadband radiated noise varies with speed, narrowband
radiated noise does not.

2. Propagation Loss is the amount of loss the source signal sustains as it
travels from the contact to the sonar. Dangerous Waters calculates proploss on
the fly, accounting for the loss due to interaction of the signal with the
acoustic boundaries (surface, bottom, and thermal layer) and the
attenuation loss of the signal as a function of range.

3. Interfering Noise is a combination of background noise (sea state, rain,
shipping density) and self noise (noise emanating from the detecting ship)
that is a function of own ship speed..

4. Recognition Differential is how well a sonar system can differentiate a
signal from the background noise. Dangerous Waters models separate sonar
Recognition Differentials depending on sonar type and model.

All these variables are modeled in Dangerous Waters to determine whether or not
to display a signal on a sonar screen, and how brightly to display the signal.

Broadband radiated noise varies by platform class, and is adjusted for
target speed. Broadband radiated noise values are modeled for
representative frequencies in the 2 kHZ - 4kHZ range.

Narrowband radiated  noise is modeled by assigning a narrowband profile to each
appropriate platform - 5 discrete narrowband frequencies. The 5 discrete narrowband
lines range in frequency from 50 Hz - to - 2 kHZ. All U.S. built ships
will have a 60 HZ lines because the U.S. uses 60 cycle electrical
equipment. The rest of the world uses 50 cycle electrical equipment, so
their narrowband profile will have a 50 HZ line.

Low frequency signals propagate through water with much less loss than do
high frequency signals. Therefore, in most cases the best/initial
detection sensor will be the detection of narrowband lines on the towed
array. The window at the top of the Narrowband Station allows the user to
perform a narrowband search. Even though a signal is not visually apparent
in the search window, moving the cursor through all the bearings may
discover a narrowband contact line that will then be displayed in the
middle window. This occurs because the sonar system is able to pull a
signal out of the noise. This is the systems Recognition
Differential. This is the reason why an auto Sonarman will report a
contact that the player does not visually see on the Broadband screen.

The lower frequency lines will be detected first as the range between ships
closes, and the brightness of the lines will depend on the calculated
Signal Excess. The Broadband Station will generally detect after detection
has been made on the Narrowband Station. Towed arrayed broadband will
detect first over the spherical and cylindrical arrays because of it's
lower frequency band and better recognition differential. However,
spherical and cylindrical array detections eliminate the problem with the
ambiguous towed array detection.

The environmental inputs for each mission have a major effect on the sonar
detection performance. The inputs are environmental profile type (surface
duct, convergence zone, bottom limited), bottom type (rock, mud, sand), and
sea state (0-5). The depth of the water is also a major factor. These
inputs are available in the mission editor.
 

TMA bearing lines are color coded to indicate its source.

UUV active sonar Green

The first letter of the contact ID represents the source of the data:

• S for Sonar (passive, active, UUV)
• R for Radar
• V for visual/periscope
• E for ESM
• M for contacts merged in TMA
• L for Link