Torpedoing moving ships

[Woke Up Dead]

The SM-79 and I think also one of the Ju-88s have a special torpedo sight for hitting moving ships. I recall seeing instructions on how to use these before, but can't find them now. It has something to do with estimating the ship's speed by the angle of the smoke coming out of its stacks, and then referencing a chart with the ship's speed on one axis and the angle on the torpedo sight on the other.

Does anyone have that chart and does anyone know how to approximate ship speed by smoke angle?

Thanks.

WokeUp

[Woke Up Dead]

Originally Posted by neoasel

DT video:
http://youtu.be/dKFbIFu4v6o

Nicely explained, but torpedoes were dropped too close. The whole point of Kommandogerat is to be able to drop torpedoes from larger and safe distances and to be precise - score hits:
http://youtu.be/fBTIQ9gHoxw

Thanks. The Italian one is a bit different, not as automated. With either one, you still need to know how to approximate the speed of the ship, how do you do that?

[Kittle]

I watched a video on YouTube the other day that showed a torpedo attack on a German merchant convoy by British Beuforts. This was the real deal, and when they made their runs they didn't release until very close to the targets ships. In IL2 it's far easier then in real life since the ships don't take evasive action when you attack. You need to be a few hundred feet from your target when you drop, but at that distance you should be able to eye ball it. Now......this is very, very, very dangerous for the pilots flying the attack. In the video you could see the German AA gunners scoring good hit on the bombers, claiming to have shot down 5 of 10.

[RPS69]

Torpedoes must be used as saturation weapons, as almost all air weapons of WWII. Every time some airforce tried a torpedo attack alone, the results were poor. However the combination of dive bombers and torpedo attacks were a whole other thing.

Firing a torpedo far away from a ship convoy, enable them to maneuver and avoid the attack, but on il2 ships are absolutelly cooperative on their single minded behaviour.

The date when TD could improve ships behaviour while under attack, this will be a whole different game on naval operations.

Still, maybe this code can't be accessed by them.

[Luno13]

Originally Posted by RPS69

Torpedoes must be used as saturation weapons, as almost all air weapons of WWII. Every time some airforce tried a torpedo attack alone, the results were poor. However the combination of dive bombers and torpedo attacks were a whole other thing.

Firing a torpedo far away from a ship convoy, enable them to maneuver and avoid the attack, but on il2 ships are absolutelly cooperative on their single minded behaviour.

The date when TD could improve ships behaviour while under attack, this will be a whole different game on naval operations.

Still, maybe this code can't be accessed by them.

I agree. Torpedoes were launched en masse as many might be duds, many more might miss, and even more might be lost due to enemy action against the attacking aircraft.

I would also like to see more detailed DM for some ships. For instance, in the Pacific Beaufighters would be used to launch rockets and strafe the AA guns on ships or cause general panic. Then the torpedo planes or bombers would arrive and have an easier time. You can't do this in Il-2 as you can't progressively damage ships (they are fine until they suddenly sink) and you can't damage sub-systems like gun placements.

[Asheshouse]

Originally Posted by Luno13

You can't do this in Il-2 as you can't progressively damage ships (they are fine until they suddenly sink) and you can't damage sub-systems like gun placements.

Not true. Every gun mount has a dedicated "collision box" and damage model. Every gun can be individually destroyed. The "hardness" of the turret also varies, so enclosed turrets are harder to destroy than open mounts. The models have been like this since the early days.

Ashe

[RPS69]

Originally Posted by Asheshouse

Not true. Every gun mount has a dedicated "collision box" and damage model. Every gun can be individually destroyed. The "hardness" of the turret also varies, so enclosed turrets are harder to destroy than open mounts. The models have been like this since the early days.

Ashe

The only way I know to hit a turret on a ship, was by the after implementations of Lal's Rhone mods. Original IL2 behaviour was that the ship sinks first from whatever damage, than having a broken turret.