Let's Play: Das Thanasboot!

[Thanas]

Der Arishcoch entered the bridge, detecting the slight whiff of sweat and other bodily fluids making a mist in the control room. One of the turkeys had escaped the galley and he had to look for it. But he knew how to make the thing come back to him. The sound of sharpening his meat cleaver was always rather soothing to his birds. Every koch knew that. He saw the crew all looking over one of the stations as a man worked and sweated doing some sort of work on paper. Swedish Chef said what he had to say:

The Cook is hereby ordered to leave the Zentrale and will be subject to further discipline for illegally leaving his post during combat after said combat is done.

[LaCroix]

I roughly calculated it through... it makes 8 knots at an angle of 60, torpedo makes 30 knots, they should intersect at 1200m out, at the heading of 358.

Roughly 5mm left of the mouse arrow - is this a hint or coincidence?

[Simon_Jester]

Despite no actual sound being made, the Weapons Officer hears a faint echo of Bootsman Huber's voice:

Trust the Farce, Luke...

Just some general notes on terminology:

Remember, that sixty degrees off bow describes the direction our boat is located relative to their bow. They are passing in front of us at an angle- on the chart, the line to the little black + sign indicates where they were before the two minute count, while the red line indicates the sighting after two minutes.

When the spotter said "sixty degrees off bow," that meant that if someone on their ship had spotted us, they would say that U-1313 was "sixty degrees off the starboard bow," or "at 2 o'clock" if that makes more sense to you.

The lines on the grid are spaced 100 meters apart, as shown in the legend at bottom left.

Remember for the record, we can (and do) program torpedoes to make a turn after leaving the tube, so we can order the torpedo to run at an angle of 5 or 10 or whatever degrees to the direction our submarine is pointing in.

[PeZook]

Remember for the record, we can (and do) program torpedoes to make a turn after leaving the tube, so we can order the torpedo to run at an angle of 5 or 10 or whatever degrees to the direction our submarine is pointing in.

That's actually all the torpedo calculator does ; It programs ze gyros so that ze eel vill turn to a course that vill hopefully interzekt vif ze British boot at a time ven ze Brit vill be there, resulting in boomage.

Zis way ze u-boot does not have to always be pointed directly at ze target, jawohl!

[Thanas]

Also, in addition to the above charges the cook will be charged with sabotage for sharpening METAL during silent running.

[fnord]

OOC: Oh what the hell... so there's a Koch-up in progress?

[Skywalker_T-65]

...my brain hurts...

Anyway...I'm not sure exactly what to do on the angle still...I haven't done geometry in a couple years (and never done Trig).

[Simon_Jester]

Hmm, I'm computing my own firing solution pour le sport, PeZook, but the positions plotted on the chart contradict the ones called out in the post- the plot has the range and bearing figures as:

~1710 meters, 338 degrees
~1420 meters, 346 degrees

Which should I believe? Because neglecting our one-knot forward crawl...

If I believe the numbers you called out, and it really was exactly two minutes between sightings, the ship is only moving at around 5.1 knots. If I believe the numbers I'm reading off the chart, the target is moving at 5.9 knots.

[edit pending]

[Skywalker_T-65]

Wait...so that means even the 8 knot speed might be wrong!

[Simon_Jester]

I'd estimate no more than six knots going by the chart, unless I'm missing something. Can I rely on the chart positions?

Put simply, one meter per second is slightly more than 0.5 knots. A ship traveling at eight knots is travelling at roughly four meters per second, and thus covers something like 450 meters in a two minute period.

[Thanas]

Looking at the plots, it feels as if our Annäherung was done in a bad way. You always want to do it from the front of the convoy so that you end up in front of the first ship in the middle row.

Also, we can now increase speed to 2 knots.

[Thanas]

I'd estimate no more than six knots going by the chart, unless I'm missing something. Can I rely on the chart positions?

No, as the actual ships are a bit in front of them.

[Simon_Jester]

Ahh. That helps explain it. But really... well, you posted after my edit, so to re-explain:

One meter per second is roughly 0.5 knots (to within a few percent error). Eight knots is about 4 m/s, and we're taking measurements 120 seconds apart. The only way you get eight knots is if the ship travels roughly 450-500 meters in two minutes, and unless I'm badly misreading the charts, it just plain didn't go that far.

[PeZook]

There's an inherent measuring error, of course: the optical rangefinder in the periscope has degrees of error. Then there's the error in marking contacts etc.

It's very much an art in addition to a science. Modern subs can measure screw rotations to give you a precise speed with passive sonar, but, well...

[PeZook]

Looking at the plots, it feels as if our Annäherung was done in a bad way. You always want to do it from the front of the convoy so that you end up in front of the first ship in the middle row.

In an ideal world that's how I'd do it, but that would require being in a precise position for the intercept AND running on the surface to overtake the convoy while radar-equipped escorts hunt you. I was actually pretty close to the head of the convoy, but that destroyer forced a pretty deep dive which took some time to come up from.

[Simon_Jester]

Well, if the chart says six knots and the Kommandant says eight knots, then by all means, let us assume eight knots!

[Thanas]

Looking at the plots, it feels as if our Annäherung was done in a bad way. You always want to do it from the front of the convoy so that you end up in front of the first ship in the middle row.

In an ideal world that's how I'd do it, but that would require being in a precise position for the intercept AND running on the surface to overtake the convoy while radar-equipped escorts hunt you. I was actually pretty close to the head of the convoy, but that destroyer forced a pretty deep dive which took some time to come up from.

Ah well. You'll get it done with practice. Took me three tries until I figured it out how to do it myself.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Or we can say 7 and pray that it hits something. So assuming that...my new thing should be:

-Torpedo speed: 30 knots

-Torpedo Depth: 9.5 meters (using a Liberty as a base...some may be more shallow or deeper)

-Fuse: Magnetic/Impact

-Target Speed: 7 knots

-Range: 1400 meters

-Angle: No bloody idea...

[PeZook]

Note: because of factors beyond my control, I will not be doing a Thanasboot update today.

Which means Skywalker has more time to figure this out

[LaCroix]

Ruler/Calculator method: 7 knots, intersection at 357°, ~1230 m out. With 6 knots, we't hit at 356°, ~1250m out.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Yeah...but it also means that I may not be around by said update. I don't have access to the internet on Saturday nights...so if I don't work something up by the time I get out of school today then...well lets just say you'll have to use what I have figured out and make up an angle in the LP. What I think would be funny though is if my guy makes a guess on the angle (if I don't figure it out) and miss a couple targets...only to hit the biggest one in the convoy. He would probably pass out from the shock!

EDIT: Or if LaCroix is right we can use that.

[Chardok]

"Mein Gott!" von Dokken rasped quietly, "Vrum here vee could eyeball it und not miss. Just shoot zee damn feesh!"

[Skywalker_T-65]

Easy for you to say! You don't have to worry about the Kommandant sticking you on galley duty if you miss! And need I remind you how the cook feels about you?

[Simon_Jester]

Actually, given that the Koch is liable to be executed for treason after the shit he's pulled (conveniently also solving the bootleg schnapps problem), you might just replace the Koch.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Since (unlike math) I can actually cook very well. Weird I know, but hey, if I miss at least I won't get shot or something. Then again, I'm hoping that what I have so far (plus how close we are) is good enough to hit things. Give me less stress and all that.