Shark7
Posts: 7937
Joined: 7/24/2007 From: The Big Nowhere Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: el cid again quote:
ORIGINAL: Shark7 Subs are and always have been ambush hunters anyway. As a general rule, especially with DE subs, you're best bet it to move them into a well traveled sea lane under cover of darkness and just lurk there until something floats over you. Even modern DE subs are not going to catch any ship on the surface that is moving at cruise speed, but you can use intel and sonar to help position the sub so that it increases its chances of engaging. The new AIP subs may change the tactics though. They look promising for allowing faster movement while submerged, since they don't depend on running deisels to charge batteries. This is a misunderstanding. It all depends on relative speeds, positions, and correct interpretation of the data - which is often ambiguous. Is not true that a modern DE sub cannot catch a ship on the surface - and in some conditions - it should always do so. Further - if it has picked its position well - it may be almost guaranteed to have a target with a closing aspect. In fact, it is now fairly common for conventional submarines even to intercept and achieve fire control solutions on US carriers - although in part that is due to a horrible loss in USN ASW capability ("the Cold War is over, we don't need to invest in the units, training, etc") AIP is not very useful in a tactical sense - many forms of it make noise - so you do NOT use it in combat. You use it when cruising - to extend underwater range - or to recharge after an action - without the need to surface or even snorkel. Catch as in tail chase, intercepting is very possible by manuevering to where the ship will be going, but this is still ambush hunting, you move to where the ship is going and wait for it to come to you. But if it is moving away, the SSK (and even the SSNs) simply don't have the submerged speed to catch a surface ship. Which in itself isn't exactly true either...many subs have more than enough speed, but are so noisy moving at those speeds that they would almost certainly be detected before getting into a firing position. A subs best weapon is its stealth. They are most effective if they can strike from ambush with complete surprise. It's just not advisable to try to chase down targets at a high rate of speed, because the noise generated negates the subs main advantage, which is stealth.
_____________________________
Distant Worlds Fan 'When in doubt...attack!'
|