“Mush” Morton’s 120° Attack | Forums

[paulhager]

In O’Kane’s book about the Wahoo, he mentions several times that Morton had a favorite tactical setup which he called the “120 degree” attack. He never really describes precisely what this is but I assume that it simply involves setting up at 120° to the target’s track. Morton’s claim was this covered most of the possible actions the target might take.

In my 2nd patrol of the Barbel, I encountered a large Japanese convoy moving at 8 knots, course 231° true. It was a moonless night action in rough seas. (This is a harder attack to conduct, given the environment, but once the torpedoes have been launched, it is easier to escape the escorts. Conversely, calm seas and a full moon are ideal for attacking but make evasion more problematic.) The only real complexity in conducting the attack was that one of the escorts had radar.

For this attack, I decided to try Morton’s 120 degree attack or, at least, a variant thereof. My setup was between 120° and 145° with decks awash. The angle + decks awash presented a minimal cross section for both radar and visual detection.

The attack worked very well – I took out the near corner cargo ship which was a 7000 ton Nagara Maru and retired on the surface with no difficulty.

I’m going add this attack to my repertoire and plan on using it again in the future.

[MWolfe1963]

A good thread at subsim discussing Okane type attacks. Really you can shoot at any angle you desire if you do the proper math and setup, but some well discussed issues. Check more towards the end pages, some good info on how OKane actually shot by the wire using the TDC.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroo...wthread.php?t=177496

[paulhager]

Originally posted by MWolfe1963:
A good thread at subsim discussing Okane type attacks. Really you can shoot at any angle you desire if you do the proper math and setup, but some well discussed issues. Check more towards the end pages, some good info on how OKane actually shot by the wire using the TDC.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroo...wthread.php?t=177496

Ages ago, when I first started playing SH3, I figured out that if you are 90 degrees to the track, you can throw out distance - makes computation much easier. I assume that was the O'Kane attack since there is no other real advantage I can see. For a long time, that was the only attack I would make. It's very easy to memorize the offsets for 7 knots through 13 knots, which covers just about all of the likely merchant speeds. It's so easy a trained orangutan could do it.

At other angles, the math become a bit more complex and one needs to include distance. Way beyond our primate cousin, I'm afraid.

Obviously, I shoot at lots of angles (see, for example, the Marianas thread) depending upon the tactical situation. However, my preference has remained to shoot at roughly 90 degrees. I've started to change that given the success of the referenced attack.

[cgkstealth]

Hmm.....
I like auto-TDC.

[paulhager]

Originally posted by cgkstealth:
Hmm.....
I like auto-TDC.

What is auto-TDC? Do you mean, using the PK? After playing SH3, it took me awhile to get used to the PK. In SH3, you get the solution, then point the scope at where on the target you want to hit. The only way I can figure out how to do that with SH4 is to update the solution every time you move the p-scope.

One advantage of the PK is that if you have a good solution and are confident the target isn't going to alter course/speed, you can lower the scope, dive to 80 feet, start turning, and fire when you feel like it. The PK continuously updates the solution based upon the sub's position and the target's computed position. Really neat.

[Mescator]

AutoTDC = Point and shoot. Computer works out the solution for you.

[cgkstealth]

Originally posted by Mescator:
AutoTDC = Point and shoot. Computer works out the solution for you.

And I love it
I just think of it as, "if the DD's have (what seems to be unlimited) depth charges then I should be allowed auto-TDC." I can (and have used) the manual-TDC buuttt I still like Auto-TDC better

[Mescator]

Originally posted by cgkstealth:
I just think of it as, "if the DD's have (what seems to be unlimited) depth charges then I should be allowed auto-TDC." I can (and have used) the manual-TDC buuttt I still like Auto-TDC better

I don't think DD's have unlimited charges. I've been mercilessly attacked for hours before at a depth i couldn't escape. I managed to evade damage, but the escorts just stopped dropping them. Kept making passes, but nothing happened.

Each to their own on the auto TDC i guess. It's a bit like map contacts, some people argue that you would have a crew helping you.

[RockinRobbins]

Actually you don't have to attack at 90º to the track for range to cancel out of the solution. Any attack with a zero torpedo gyro angle is independent of range, no matter what your angle to the track.

And you don't need brain busting math to make that work. Check out the vector analysis method in the Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks thread over at Subsim! Use the link in the first post for the John P Cromwell method, which is taught by rule of thumb and then by vector analysis. You can do vector analysis quickly, accurately and in real time using game tools only.

[paulhager]

Yes, vector addition. I don't know what I was thinking...