And just in case someone here might be able to help me. I am looking for the nomograph in this thread. I would be forever grateful if someone knows a link or could even send me the files. Please help this old submariner

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2427814#post2427814

So I haven't posted in this thread for 2 years, I go out on one stinkin' patrol, and now I can't shut up, so....

What's a nomograph? Glad you asked. (And see previous post for graphical representation. It's the thing on the right)

A nomograph is a gift from the undersea gods. We use it to determine a ship's speed when we know two other crucial bits of info-- time and distance.

So let's determine time and distance.

Let's say we've just made contact with a ship. Using the pencil, make a mark on the map at the current position of that ship, while simultaneously starting the chronometer (stopwatch, but hey, we are trained and experienced submarine skippers, so we say chronometer since it sounds much more technical and erudite). The idea here is to measure the ship's distance travelled over a known length of time. You can use any length of time, but in general the longer the interval, the more accurate your resulting speed reading will be.

I will vary that time based on circumstances, but as a rule of thumb I take 5-minute readings. So we wait until the stopwa,,,er chronometer, has ticked off 5 minutes and then place a second pencil mark at the ship's new location. Now, using the compass, we measure the distance between the two position marks we just made.

Last step to determine the target's speed is to grab the ruler and place one end of the ruler on the time column (5 minutes for our example) and draw a line through the measured distance travelled value in the center 'km' column. The ship's speed therefore is the value where the extended ruler line intersects the 'knots' column. Voila!, we have our speed.

It is highly advisable to take mutliple speed readings prior to any attack as a failsafe against errors. I cited a few examples in the patrol reports earlier in this thread where multiple readings were not possible (due to sudden sighting and/or high target speed), or my laziness or arrogance prevented more than one reading, and introduced avoidable error in to the solution.

One myth I see repeated again and again is people saying they don't want to do the math in manual solutions. What math? There is no math. Geometry sure, but no math. It's far less complicated than some make it out to be. This post I think helps to dispell that myth. Speed determined with a watch, a compass, a ruler and a nomograph. No math at all

Edit: Oh yeah, and a pencil

Just got back into SH4 DBond.
Found your thread here and now I'm spending hours after midnight...when the wife falls asleep....lol.

Wish I could find some good 'tools'....I remember a compass or some such tool, that would let me know the angle off the bow, but in actual compass degrees, relative to North. Don't know how to explain it, but the same as the compass is when you click on setting your course....I seem to remember a download.
I have the 'small tools' download.

Also, can I get the picture you have, the dials and lights next to your periscope....I'm liking that
But I don't need the whole 'maru' download...just the dials, is that possible?

Good thread DBond....but what's new....always did like reading your stuff

Thanks.

Hey Murph, thanks for the kind words. Which mod or version are you playing, and do you use the map contacts or is it disabled? I know the tool you're referring to. But not sure where to get it, probably at subsim though.

My firing method, which I call D Bond's Steady Wire Firing Technique™ (DBSWiFT), doesn't require a single AoB estimate, but does sort of require that map contact updates is on for the plot. I've been meaning to do a write-up on this method, but never got around to it. If you think you might find it useful I can do so, since knowing at least one person would find it useful would be incentive enough to put it together.

I view my method as sort of a shorthand manual method that combines the true role of the skipper along with the info from the tracking party which isn't present in the sim, but would have been on a real boat.

If you're content with your own method no worries.

As to the periscope mod I am using, it is called KiUB (English) and is for the Operation Monsun mod, and it is truely excellent. What I don't know is if it's compatible with other versions of SH4. It was included in the OM package. I could probably email it to you, but no guarantee it would work outside of German boats in OM.

That's the problem with my game, I'm playing the U.S. sub role, of version 1.5 of SH4.
I used to plot my shots by hand when playing SH3 and using a German sub. I could pop out a course and shoot pretty fast, but I've forgotten how I did it now that I'm using the American sub.
It has it's own TDC, and you just lock on and shoot.
But....it doesn't always give you the proper shot...you might end up shooting wayyyyy off.
I found if I check with the attack map, and make sure the plot is right just before I shoot, it works fine.
I sometimes have to keep locking on and off, or turn off the 'position keeper' and turn it back on again.

A glitch in the game I believe.

But it works well enough.

I tried to click the option to manually shoot, but it won't let me, with the American Gato sub, it has the 'computer'.
Which doesn't work as well as I did.....lol.....


Great game, good break from flying.
Gotta mix it up.

Nice to hear from you.

It's still possible to enter manually in the US boats. I'll have to get back in to one to refresh the old noggin, and will likely do so once this OM career in U-49 is complete or comes to an untimely end. We have reached November of 1940 with little difficulty, but sterner stuff lies ahead. As I mentioned earlier, this time I'm going to stay an Atlantic boat, no hiding in the Med. So I probably won't survive, but hey, worth a shot haha.

That gets me thinking about past careers.... I've played the Silent Hunter series, alot. Between SH3 and SH4 alone I've probably logged something in the neighborhood of a hundred careers. Of all of the careers I've begun in German boats, surely more than half the total, I've survived the war exactly once. Those are slim odds, I'd wager.

Nothing of particular interest has happened in this career (U-49, Type VIIB, 7th Flotilla). We've transferred to St Nazaire, and it's all gone rather smoothly. But of course it should at this stage. But things will shortly change, and we should experience a sharp spike in peril.

Does any one know how to take a photo ( with in the preiscope ) to satisfy a mission requirments.

I am using SH4 Gold Edition Wolves of the Pacific.

Thanks

It should be as simple as locking the periscope on the 'target' ship and clicking the camera button. The camera button will light up (not greyed out) when it is locked and within range.

IIRC, the range must be within 8 nautical miles, and you may need to take multiple shots, and the objective may call for photgraphs of more than one ship.

For all those desperately searching for the nomograph I had been looking for you can stand down. Max-peck over at subsim.com has hooked me up by converting the nomograph from TMO to use in OM. So much better for these old eyes and I can now plot a speed without leaning in on the monitor.

The career of U-49 has entered 1941. We have set out on war patrol 6 headed for the Western Approaches. Have not encountered a single significant warship so far in this career, aside from a group of Auxiliary Merchant Cruisers in the Denmark Strait, one of which fell to U-49s torpedoes. Still firing steamers, but soon I will transition to electrics. But I despise the TII and look forward to the TIII, but that's not until spring of '42.

Just four more years of war left!

Well, another career fails to make it to the end. U-49 was sunk by aircraft while on the surface during her eighth war patrol, southwest of Rockall Bank in August of '41. It was evening twilight and the attack came out of time compression, my watch failed to spot the plane. I would have abandoned ship and scuttled if that were possible. We remained on the surface for several minutes before the flooding overcame the bouyancy and U-49 plummeted to the bottom.

So, having been sunk and another career ended, I debated about what to do next. I was going to bust out JSGME and reconfigure for a TMO run. But in the end decided to give U-bootens another go.

A few years back I read a thread at subsim that mentioned an issue with OM and conning tower upgrades, and how said upgrade could bring your career to a screeching halt.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=205967

So consequently, I have done all of my OM careers in a VIIB, since as luck would have it, it gets no conning tower upgrade.

But for this new career I thought what the hell, and have started a new career in the 7th out of St Nazaire in February of 1941, in a shiny new VIIC, U-201 (Aldabert Schnee's boat)

I've always started in September '39, so this is a bit different. First patrol was to the AL grid, sank one medium freighter enroute, then later found an inbound convoy that had just departed Reykjavik and managed to sink four and damage two before running out of torpedoes and returning to St Nazaire after one month at sea. I made repeated surface attacks from the port side of the convoy, and each time ran off to reload, and then came back in to shoot again using TII electrics (several duds, hate these torpedoes). The only escort on that side was an armed trawler, and he didn't have the speed to intervene. Leading the formation was a Black Swan, which I've commented on before, because they scare me, and have ended many of my careers. But he was never able to get a bead and we we never counterattacked.

So, here we go again. This time we will survive the war!

The U-201 career is on hold, in late 1941. Still reading Blair's Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, I was inspired by the accounts to run some long-range patrols, get away from the North Atlantic. So, for the first time since like 2006, I took command of a Type IXC, U-502. The first patrol, July '41, was to BD grid in the central Atlantic. Finding nothing out in mid-ocean, we patrolled back toward Spain, where we refueled in one of the 'clandestine' Spanish ports. Then resumed patrolling off the coast of Portugal where we found good hunting.

Making extensive use of scout planes, essentially sending one up everyday, we managed to put 9 ships for 60k on the bottom, despite many duds. Did I mention that I hate TII electrics? Yes, I believe I did. But the fact we carry 26 freakin' torpedoes helps to mask the dud rate. The final ship sunk on this maiden patrol was a CAMS merchant, a large freighter with a catapult launched Seafire, Hurricat or Martlet (couldn't tell) on the forecastle, which was sailing alone. I hit this ship with four torpedoes, three of which were duds, and she sailed on. We surfaced and put her down with the gun and ran for the barn, putting in to Lorient in September. Damn the torpedoes, literally. And it appears the Seafire is not operational.

The scout planes are very useful, in some cases spotting ships that we were able to intercept and get a shot on, and in other cases helping me to maintain contact with convoys. The Operation Monsun mod has taught me patience and caution. At this stage of the war, I will not go right to the attack against escorted formations. I look for two things, darkness and heavy sea state. So I will shadow the convoy, waiting for the right conditions, and if I can't get them I disengage. The scout plane helps me keep track of the formation, and is especially helpful if the convoy changes course, which can often leave the submarine out in left field as course changes are difficult to detect quickly, and by the time you do your approach is foiled or you're way out of range or position and need to do it all over again.

I've never seen anyone else ever mention scout planes in SH4, so I wonder how many know this feature exists. The areas where they are available is limited, but they are very useful in those areas that they can reach. The central Med and Black Sea, the North Sea, the English Channel and the grids just to the west (BF/BE), and off the Iberian coast.

Patrol Two will be to the AK grid way out in the blue water of the North Atlantic. I intend to spend most of my patrol time in this career in West African and Caribbean waters, but you have to patrol the grid you're assigned, then patrol where you like. I hope that in '42 we will get assignments accordingly. The US will join the war in a couple of months, though we can't know that yet. And eventually there will be some resupply boats in the western Atlantic which will help extend these patrols and allow us to penetrate the Gulf of Mexico. If we survive that long that is! The good boat U-502 does not get under quickly so I will hope to avoid airborne ASW patrols as much as possible.

The career of U-502 continues, having entered 1943. We have conducted 5 patrols, mostly to the American eastern seaboard and the Caribbean. The past few patrols have been supported by U-tankers in the mid-Atlantic. The first patrol to Norfolk Virginia was done without their assistance, and it left us little time on station. But since the U-tankers arrived we are able to stay a long time, and each patrol is lasting at least 3 months.

We have found unhappy hunting in North America though, and heavy airborne ASW patrols that harass continually. Type IXCs are slow to dive and we barely escaped most of the time, and took some fairly serious damage on several occasions, but we were able to repair the worst of it and make it to port. Most successes we have had were off the Atlantic Iberian coast and in the western approaches to Gibraltar, often assisted by scout aircraft.

If you read this thread and the reports of U-47s patrols you'll know that in that career we found an unusual number of capital ships. Since then, we have found none. Patrol after patrol and none sighted, let alone fired upon. But that changed on patrol number 5.

We left Lorient in late October 1942 and were assigned a patrol grid south of Puerto Rico. I decided to sail south past the Canaries toward Freetown, then cross the narrow neck of the Atlantic and patrol the north coast of Brazil on the way to the assigned grid.

On the night of November 7th, 1942, U-502 was heading south about 700 kilometers west of Casablanca, Morocco. This was the first patrol of this career where we had T III electric torpedoes (finally!) and the Metox detector. As we headed south at 7 knots we detected radar signals off the starboard bow. Closing the track we saw a destroyer leading a pair of cruisers, a Northampton CA, followed by a Brooklyn CL (interestingly, the 'CL' is actually heavier than the CA). Our plot tracked them at 10 knots, which is unusually slow for a task force. This slow speed allowed us plenty of time to get in position, and we shot from 2000 meters port, two torpedoes at each cruiser. Then we went deep.

All four torpedoes hit, but only three detonated. Since we were already in the cellar I don't know how badly damaged the cruisers were, but neither sank. That was disappointing, but those ships would probably tie up a couple drydocks for a few months anyway.

As we attempted to evade the searching escorts at 160 meters, a convoy of 'merchant' ships ran us over. We had stumbled right in to the Torch invasion fleet, and those merchant ships were undoubtedly troopships. We reloaded and evaded to the south, then came up to periscope depth and in perfect position to close what was evidently another task force sailing on the formation's starboard flank as they headed east. We were able to make out another Northampton class CA, which was followed by the battleship North Carolina. Neither of the North Carolina class Battleships were present during Torch, they were in the Pacific, so we have to allow the game a little license here. The American BB's taking part were Massachusetts, Texas and New York.

Again the shots were taken from 2000 meters, three at the trailing BB and a fourth at the CA. All torpedoes hit, but only the cruiser shot and one of the BB fish detonated. But that one hit a magazine evidently as the battleship was instantly destroyed, and the CA plowed on. Already deep, we couldn't see any of this.

We evaded to the south and after about 15 minutes the Northampton joined the North Carolina on the bottom of the sea.

Soon after, another scout plane arrived near the scene and revealed the true extent of the invasion fleet, three task forces and two large convoys. We set a course to run an end around, but it was wishful thinking. Daybreak soon followed and with it the first aircraft, which forced us under and me to change plans and U-502 turned to the south and continued on her way to the Caribbean.

So we had stumbled in to them at the ideal time and position, damaging two cruisers from the port screen, passing under the main body, and popping up on the other side to sink a battleship and cruiser from the starboard screen.

It was just one of those moments in a subsim where stars align. If I had left port a few hours earlier, or if one more plane had held us down enroute, we would have missed this invasion fleet completely. Right place, right time. You just never know what will happen when you cast the lines for another patrol.

This patrol has turned out to be one of the best I've had. The previous patrol was frustrating. U-502 returned to Lorient damaged, and with only about 21k tons sunk after many months at sea. We were unable to score any successes in the Caribbean aside from a pair of destroyers sunk at anchor in the Key West harbor and a lone medium freighter near Trinidad.

But this patrol has been quite productive. As mentioned, we sank the battleship and cruiser off Casablanca, then proceeded on toward Freetown, then turned west toward the Caribbean, meeting the tanker U-460 along the way, refueling, and replacing the eight torpedoes fired in the attacks on the Torch invasion fleet.

Our patrol grid was at the southern entrance to the Windward Passage. Airborne ASW patrols were everywhere, but now we have the Metox, and all were easily avoided by diving. Not a single attack was made on us, a nice change!

After completing the objective, and vainly chasing a reported convoy we sailed south to have a look around Curacao and Aruba. During the war Curacao was an important refinery and oil hub so I thought we might find some tanker traffic. No traffic developed but we closed the port at night and found several T3 tankers are anchor. Two of these were sunk at Curacao and two more at Aruba. T3 tankers are among the largest merchant ships in the game, at 11000 tons.

Way too easy to slip in to enemy ports, but it is what it is and I can't well pass up such inviting targets now can I? After that we set course back to the east. Plenty of fuel on board, but no word of any sheduled U-tankers, so better to err on the side of caution until word from Control.

U-502 headed for Trinidad, with a view to patrol along the Trinidad-Freetown route, a commonly used convoy route (in real life anyway, didn't know about in SH4). After many more planes avoided, we made contact with a convoy inbound to Trinidad, unescorted.

Making repeated submerged and surface night attacks we hit the convoy hard.

Here's where I was going to post some screens but the site doesn't upload bmp's.

Anyhow, 5 or 6 ships went down from this convoy. Without escorts, and at night, there's little they can hope for other than the periscope doesn't fall on them. At present we are on the way home having sunk over 120,000 tons (with one reload of 8 fish as mentioned). What a contrast to the previous patrol, and I love the 'Biscay Cross'. I guess the game doesn't model centrimetric radar, which the Cross can't detect, so we have it far easier than the real skippers did. But as long as I don't get trapped submerged, the Cross is enough to give us hope of surviving the war. But there is still a long way to go.

I'm going to bump this up. Before you could attach pics here, I had put them on photobucket, then photobucket killed my account and I thought these shot were lost forever. But recently they must have done an about face (probably because everyone stopped using it) and the shots are once again displayed, but with their tag on them, which is OK by me.

This is one of my favorite AARs I've done and just a bump for posterity's sake