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Judging AOB by eye tutorial - single ships

It requires two things


a) practice (which on the whole we are not short of)
b) knowing what to look for.
To be sure, there are times when it is hard to judge by eye at extreme range it is
hard, and in the dark at medium range it is hard, and there is a band of AOBs
between 20 and 50 that are harder than the others.
This is an extract on the subject from the invaluable USN submarine torpedo fire
control manual (1950)
http://www.hnsa.org/doc/attack/index.htm
Section 803
Quote:
(b) Estimation of angle on the bow by observation through a periscope is one of
the arts peculiar to submarining. An officer's ability to accurately estimate
angles on the bow increases directly with his experience in submarines.
Its not necessarily easy, but once you have the skill its by far the fastest way to
obtain AOB. If you also have a tool that can rapidly convert AOB to target course
for you, such as the Submarine Attack Course Finder (or ISWAS do a search to
find threads on the subject), or the German Attack Disk, or Angriffscheibe, as
found in the U-jagd tools mod or the OLC GUI for SH3, then the whole process of
visuals to target course, to submarine attack course takes seconds.
I have used SH3 for these shots, but of course it makes no difference what game it
is, or even if you are judging AOB in the real world (if you havent mentally
planned a firing solution at a passing ship while standing on the beach, you are a
lightweight!)
There are four things you are looking for, apparent length, the orientation of the
masts, the position of the bow wave and the front of the bridge
Apparent length
First is apparent length. It is important to note that the apparent length of the target
changes with the sine of the AOB.
This means that from AOBs 90-60, the apparent length of the target doesnt
change much. This means it can be difficult exactly distinguish between AOBs of
this range, but on the plus side it means that a variation in this range has a minimal
effect on your torpedo solution.
Then the apparent length changes rapidly between 60 and 15, and then it changes
slowly again.
The apparent length at 30 degrees is exactly half the apparent length at 90 degrees.

In general this is a big source of confusion before you are acclimatized to visual
AOB spotting, as one instinctively tends to see this stage as 45 degrees.
Masts and bow wave
For small AOB's you look at the position of the masts in relation to the funnel. this
will help you to distinguish between AOBs of 0,5,10 and 15. The point at which
the bow of the ship cuts the visible bow wave is also very useful.
Bridge
At larger AOB's you look at the part of the front of the bridge that you can see. The
more of this you can see, the further from an AOB of 90 it is.
AOB 0
This is one of the easiest to recognise, since the view of the ship is symmetrical

in fact you can see that it is not quite symmetrical, there is an AOB of about 1
degree.
If you are really struggling to get an AOB, then one approach is to cut the T of the
target ship, and once you see this view, you know the target is on a reciprocal
course, then continue and adjust to make the sternshot.
E.g. let's say i am on a heading of 10 degrees, and when i have this view the
bearing to target is 220, then true bearing to target is 10+230 = 230. Reciprocal of
230 is 230-180=050. Target course is 050 degrees.
this is particularly useful if you are making a convoy attack from inside the
convoy, as you will generally have passed directly in front of one ship or another
on your way into position.
AOB 5
Now the bow is not in the center of the apparent bow wave, it is about 3/4 of the
way across, and on a longish ship the front masts have moved across a small

amount relative to the funnel

AOB 10
At AOB 10, the bow is now almost all the way across to one side, only about 1/7
of the other side of the target is visible around the bow. Also the front masts ahve
now "cleared" the funnel.

AOB 15
At AOB 15, it is just no longer possible to see any of the other side of the ship, and
all the masts appear to have just become on one side of the funnel or the other.

AOB 20
This is one of the more difficult to identify. The bow wave no longer clearly helps
and the masts and bridge are not too helpful either.
Apparent length is not yet half the expected full length. Certainly this is one of the
easiest AOBs to overestimate. If it's possible, note that you can still just make out
the anchor on the other side

AOB 25
Now the big difference with 25 from 20 is that some of the cranes on the ship
appear to meet in the center, and that some of the aft cranes are no longer obscured
by any of the bridge, but also note that the ship has lengthened greatly since the
AOB 20

To be continued...

AOB 30
At this AOB, the apparent length of the ship is half the actual length. In addition if you now look at the
side of the bridge section, you will see in this ship, the corner is about 1/5 to 1/4 the way across, and in a
ship with doubled masts, like this one, a small gap has appeared between the different sets of masts

AOB 35
Nevermind that the picture is smaller! The corner of the bridge is now about 1/4 the way across, and the
gap between the mast sets has grown

AOB 40
A ship with masts of this kind now shows an even spacing between all the masts at the AOB, and the
corner of the bridge is in line with the funnel (clearly this is not a useful marker with split freighters)
you can however say it is approaching 1/3 the way across

AOB 45
Now i'm getting a bit bored of writing comments! For sure this mid range is the most difficult. The gap
between the mast sets has become wider than the gaps between the masts, and the corner of the bridge is
now under the funnel. the apparent length of the ship is now 7/10 of its actual length.

AOB 50
Now it starts becoming a bit easier again. At 50, you are beginning to see the full length of the ship
(actually 3/4 still), and the gap between the mast sets is clearly seen

AOB 55

AOB 60
At this AOB, the corner of the bridge is about half way across the visible bridge

AOB 65

AOB 70
We are now definately seeing more of the side of the bridge than the front, and we are beginning to see
the masts "side on"

AOB 75

AOB 80

AOB 85
This is now only very slightly off being exactly perpendicular

MentalSineTable(togetthesineofanyanglefrom090):
Foranglesfrom0to40=Angle/60(forexample:Sin(10)=10/60=1/6=.16)
Sin(40)toSin(50)=0.7(At45degrees,it'sreally.7071)
Sin(50)toSin(60)=0.8(Sin(60)=.866)
Sin60toSin70=0.9
Sin70toSin90=1.0

Togetthesinofanangle>90butlessthan180,subtractyouranglefrom180.Ex:

Sin150=Sin(180150)=Sin30=30/60=0.5

Tofindareciprocalbearing:Takeyourbearing,add/subtract200,thensubtractoradd20.Example:Findthereciprocal
of346:

346...246...146...166BINGO!Takeslessthanasecondinyourhead.

Tofinddistancetotrack:DistancetoTrack=RangexSin(AOB).Example:Freighteris3200yardsaway,Stbd15AOB.
WhatisDisttotrack:

3200xsin(15)=3200x15/60=800yards

HereisthebasicLineofsightpicture:

ThebasicLineofSight(LOS)pictureshowsyourboatatthebottom,thetargetatthetop,andshowsavectordiagramof
speedforbothandangleforboth.TheverticallinerepresentstheTRUEbearingtothetarget(i.e.,thebearingtothe
targetmeasuredclockwiseform0360degreesfromTRUENORTH).Therelativebearingtothetargetistheangle
betweenthefrontofyourUBoatandthelineofsighttothetarget,measuredfrom0360degrees.

So,tofindthetruebearing,justremember:

RELATIVE+SHIP'sHEAD=TRUE

Forinstance:targetbears346relative.Youareoncourse200.Whatistruebearingtothetarget?

200+346=546(360)=184degreestrue.

WhatdoestheLOSpicturelooklike:

Targetis(360346)=14degreesoffyourportbow:

Herearethe3basictypesofLOS:

Ifyouwanttoplotacoursetocollidewiththetarget(basicallythisiswhatyourfirecontrolsystemdoestogetyour
torpedotohitthetarget),matchyourspeedacrosstheLOStotargetspeedacrossLOSinthesamedirection.

Intheaboveexample,whatistargetspeedacrosstheLOSiftargetisdoing10knots?

xGz=TgtspeedxSin(AOB)=10xSin(30)=10x30/60=5knots.

Sowhatcoursedoweneedtobeontocollidewithtargetifourspeedis17knots?

xGu=UbootSpeedxSin(RelBearing)


5=17xSin(RelBearing)

5/17=Sin(RelBearing)

5/17isabout1/3(alittlelessthanthatbutcloseenough).Frommentalsintables,1/3isabout20/60.sotheRelative
Bearingweneedtoputhimonisabout20degreesstarboard(sowearegoinginsamedirectiontomatchSpeedacross
LOS).Foryoupurists,theexactanswerisabout17.6degrees.20iscloseenoughforGovernmentwork.

ThatmeansIneedtocomeleftabout34degrees(14+20).Mycurrentcourseis200,sothatmeansIneedtobeon
course20034=166degreestrueat17knotstocollidewiththetarget.

It'sallaboutbasictrignometry:

IfIwanttoclosetherangetoatarget,IneedtoINCREASEmySpeedINtheLOSTOWARDthetarget.

IfIwanttoopentherangetoatargetIneedtoincreasemyspeedINtheLOSAWAYfromthetarget.

IfIwanttomakethebearingrategoleft(becomesmaller)IneedtomakemyspeedACROSStheLOStotheRIGHTget
bigger.

IfIwantthebearingratetogoright(becomelarger),IneedtomakemyspeedACROSStheLOStotheRIGHTget
smaller.

Icandothatbychangingcourse,speedorboth.

Somespeedthings:

3minuterule:
In3minutes,Itravel:speedinknotsx100yards.Example:at12knots,Icover1200yardsin3minutes.

6minuterule:
In6minutes:Itravel:speedinknots/10nauticalmiles(NM).Example:at12knots,Icover1.2nauticalmilesin6minutes

Youcanrapidlyfigureoutalmostanytime/speed/distanceequationinyourheadwithjustthesetwothumbrulesat
leastgetacloseestimate.

1NM=2000yards.It'sprettycloseinmetersnotenoughdifferencetoworryaboutformostsituations.Somostly:
yards=meters

Ineedtoclose5400metersat10knots.Howlongwillittakemetogetthere?

Using3minuterule,Itravel1000yardsin3min.sothat's5x1000plus4/10

5x3=15min..4x3min=1.2minapprox.Total:16.2min.


Themoreyoupracticedoingthiskindofmentalmath,theeasieritistodo.

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