Torpedo Defense

[Papichu]

Played 'Charlies!' Mission and killed the enemy sub but not before he got off 3 torpedoes from 30-40 nm away. Turned all sonar off immediately, Tried zigzag, and put 10 noisemakers down, and all 3 still hit me. What are your best tips for defending against torps?

[Bryan]

Soviet submarine torpedoes of this timeframe are very often wake-homers. You can see if they have WH in their name on the tacmap. WH torpedoes ignore noisemakers but are blind to stationary ships. I tested WH torpedoes a bit and it seems they are blind to ships moving 5 knots or under. I turn ships into or away from WH torpedoes and then command the all-stop.

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Since you know the course of the torpedo, you can also draw a line on the map matching that course, make the length the maximum range of the torpedo.

This will tell you how far you need to go at most if you want to outrun the torpedo, and in case of wake-homers, what line you can't cross. If your wake doesn't intersect with that line, the torpedo will not track you.

[Papichu]

Originally posted by Bryan:

Soviet submarine torpedoes of this timeframe are very often wake-homers. You can see if they have WH in their name on the tacmap. WH torpedoes ignore noisemakers but are blind to stationary ships. I tested WH torpedoes a bit and it seems they are blind to ships moving 5 knots or under. I turn ships into or away from WH torpedoes and then command the all-stop.

I see, they must have been because that's the only defense I didn't try. Thanks!

[joetrusty2020]

I had 3-4 shot at me by a November that I killed. I went deep and up to high speed perpendicular to their track, but I was probably 10 nm or more away from them when the went were launched at me. I evaded without any problems, but that was my only test. I will have to try more exercises later.

[Phobos548]

I've done this mission untill I've managed killing the sub without loosing any ship.

First, I think the torpedos don't track your active sonar.
Second, the very big advantage of US subs are their wired guided torpedos. (When your a playing with US subs, you can click on torps and select a new target to engage). These torpedos also have active homing. So all stop don't change anything.
It makes evading torps for Russian ships almost impossible.
The only "reliable" solution seem to fire your RBU.

My strategy is:
1. Place a destroyer in front of the formation. Close enough so that the 2 ships on her rear are in RBU range. So, they can provide covering fire. Helping shooting down incoming threats.
It's looks like the kill ratio is about 80%/salvo.
The ship on front is also attracting most torpedos. And if not, she helps getting the position of incoming torps early for the others.
If the torp is not destroyed in one salvo, don't hesitate to take control and fire a second salvo yourself.

2. You can draw a line and guess the position of the enemy sub. Fell free to fire your own torpedos in the overall direction. You can just click on the map, the area where you are clicking is also the activation point for the torpedo (try activating the torp at the right distance).
In worst case scenario the enemy will react accelerate or send out decoys. Reveling herself.
Once detected, you can fire your rocket mounted torpedos on her. And fire other torps in her direction.

Keep your eyes on incoming threats.

Good luck !

[guanotwozero]

The other problem with wake-homers is they might go after the commercial ships, so if there's enough distance you can use your own ships to create a wake-path away from them, then do a 90 degree dog-leg at creep speed to put a little distance from the end of that wake, then stop.

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Originally posted by Phobos548:

Second, the very big advantage of US subs are their wired guided torpedos. (When your a playing with US subs, you can click on torps and select a new target to engage). These torpedos also have active homing. So all stop don't change anything.
It makes evading torps for Russian ships almost impossible.
The only "reliable" solution seem to fire your RBU.

US subs are also less noisy in general, and the soviet sonars aren't just as good. Meaning both subs and torps will be detected later compared to when you play US side.

In my experience, you have to be more aggressive with counterfire, wire guided torps are only magic as long as that wire stays intact, and the sub having to evade torps means the wire more likely than not will be gone.

Compared to the RUR-5, the soviet ships have a massive advantage in express delivery of ASW torps at range with the SS-N-14, that is your ace card.

Counterfire from your shipboard tubes in the general direction the torp came from, and saturate up to max launch range with your Silex.

If you really care where the sub is, most likely where you see the first explosion.

[supersound99ss]

Originally posted by Bryan:

Soviet submarine torpedoes of this timeframe are very often wake-homers. You can see if they have WH in their name on the tacmap. WH torpedoes ignore noisemakers but are blind to stationary ships. I tested WH torpedoes a bit and it seems they are blind to ships moving 5 knots or under. I turn ships into or away from WH torpedoes and then command the all-stop.

Think you are on to something with the 5kt thing, I was playing as the Soviets and had a WH miss a crippled ship. But it was doing like 6kts I think. WH literally crossed it's wake and acted like nothing. 3 others hit their targets but where all going 10+kts.

To the OP. WHs in general are more area denial weapons. Very easy to evade as long as you have a fix and distance. They will though force you out of position or out contact with the enemy sub. As others stated, perpendicular course away from their track at flank...just give yourself a few miles from their track.

As for the other side right now, very effective against the AI who seems to be oblivious to them until they are half a mile out.

[-- Rooster --]

Get your helos out and drop loads of sonar bouys ahead of you, flush the subs out at long range. Then you have plenty of time to avoid any torpedos they launch