So Skipper's, where do you prefer your deck gun? Forward of the conning tower, or aft of it? Before you vote, let me go over the difference:

Forward of the conning tower/bow mounting:
Pros:
- Easier to fire upon a fleeing target.
- Takes less time to maneuver the boat to employ the weapon in most situations.

Cons:
- Cannot fire upon a target chasing you if forced to flee on the surface.
- If firing on a stationary target that is returning fire, you must either show your broadsides in a hard turn, or use emergency reverse to evade.

Aft of the conning tower/stern mounting:
Pros:
- Can fire upon a target chasing you if forced to flee on the surface.
- If firing on a stationary target that is returning fire, all you have to do is order flank speed to evade.

Cons:
- Cannot fire upon a fleeing target without overtaking it first.
- Takes more time to maneuver the boat to employ the weapon in most situations.

Misc thoughts:
How often do you use the deck gun, and of those times, is it mostly at a fleeing target, or a target that is stationary or doing 1 kt at best?

Question:
Preferred location for your deck gun?

Choices:
Toward the bow, Forward of the conning tower.
Toward the Stern, Aft of the conning tower

 

To clarify my vote of forward: I can't see a situation that requires me to run from a target on the surface, and if I am running, I don't think shooting back is on my mind.
You can't outrun a DD, and if you discover the hard way that a merchie is packing, crash diving is the only prudent action. So either way, you should be getting underwater.

I only use the deck gun when I am trying to sink an already damaged ship.

I voted forward but have sunk or damaged Destroyers enough for them to give up. Its not all that hard to hurt a destroyer, aim for the bridge.

Of course what i'm really asking is, what should the default gun location be in TMO?

I have to be honest, i usually use a bow mount, but there is something unique to fleet boats about that stern mount that appeals to me. I waffle a lot on this.

I want it forward. In stock where you were fighting dd's on the surface I like it aft, but we don't do that in TMO.

I think most in TMO would want it forward, because they're gonna be chasing, not running.

I always prefer bow mount in the game. However, in WW2 it seems they preferred stern mount.

I'd like to have it like a few of the fleet boats did at the end of the war though, with a 5 inch gun on BOTH ends.

Wow, bow mounting's by a landslide. Works for me, that much less i have to do.

Bow for me as well.

I use it as often as possible, especially early in the war when most targets are not armed and most torpedoes suck.



What is really sad is that late war brings the best gun, the 5", but almost no chance to use it owing to the high percentage of armed merchants.

Always on the bow for me, I'm too aggresive for my own good sometimes.


Besides if I'm running from something, I won't be firing a deckgun at it.

I think one of the things to remember is that the sub was originally designed to be a surface raider with submersible capabilities; hence deck gun. As technology progressed, subs needed bigger guns to combat armed merchants and, eventually, subs did away with the deck gun altogether.

Fleeing from a target at flank speed means a drastic change in the target range between the time the deck gun is fired and the shell finding it's mark. This makes the deck gun virtually ineffective in this specific scenario, at least, in my own experiences.
The only exception to this is when the target closes to short range. By that time, I've wasted valuable time shooting at an evading target while I could've been using that time diving and taking evasive action while submerged. And, DDs can move at blazing speeds when chasing down a thin skinned target like my sub. They got lots more guns than I do too.

Now that I'm playing RFB, I find a drastic difference in the gun's effectiveness against surface vessels, as opposed to when I was playing stock. Now, I only use the DG against targets I've already torp-ed.

Bow... for all the reasons allready mentioned above.

I fire 'over' the sights, I get about 50% or so hits, then, when the destoyer starts to fire back, I dive.

I prefer the deck gun to be bow mounted.However, I like the boat to be in its historical condition, so in early war and most of 42 into 43 I tend to leave deck gun on the stern, in 43 most boats had them bow mounted.

I use the deck gun pretty often, esp against small ships not worth torpedos from the small freighters like Taihosan Marus to fishing boats, tubs, sampans etc. Deck gun is also nice to finish off ships.A very important piece of equipment as it was in RL.

The advantage of a stern mounting is yes if in a worst case scenario you are on surface and running, you have some measure of self defense while running.Since you can outrun many escorts(except the actualy destroyers, can outrun others though for most part) and your gunfire helps them zoom in on you quicker so i have rarely fired, but nice in a last ditch move to save boat.

That being said, i wish the stupid bug could be solved so could switch deck gun positions and NOT lose the crew slots.

A great example is my current career.I started a new construction career in 1942, assigned the USS Drum.Just wrapped up my 5th patrol.During an overhaul after her 4th patrol in early 1943, the Drum's conning tower was cut down to have two AA gun platforms forward and aft and the 3 inch aft deck gun was removed, replaced by a 4 inch deck gun was placed forward.I wanted a stern deck gun when started since historically accurate, so enabled the TMO stern deckgun mod.

On schedule with history(which is cool) I was given a refit after my fourth patrol in late 42/early 43...conning tower was cut down properly.I wanted to replace the aft 3 inch deck gun with a forward 4 inch, tried removing the mod while in port so could get a bow deck gun.After doing this, the equipment screen was fubar, and when did move the deck gun forward, crew slots disappeared.So renabled the mod, reloaded save, everything was okay, but i am stuck with the gun aft.Not a huge deal but would be nice to be able to move it around.Also would be nice to have the two deck guns in later war Balaos, Gatos and Tenchs.

I plan on keeping the Drum until end war if possible so would be nice to be able to have a forward mounted deck gun since the Drum's really was.Also this bug extends to the 40 MM bofors when replace it yourself.

Overall, I like using it when forward but prefer the historical location.

Going to have to say Bow. I'm currently using a stern mount and only had to use it while running away once from a small sub chaser, anything forward is a pain since you have to angle your attack to fire past the tower.

quote:

Originally posted by bubblehead1980:
I use the deck gun pretty often, esp against small ships not worth torpedos from the small freighters like Taihosan Marus to fishing boats, tubs, sampans etc.

is that 'through' the bathroom wall? haha!