WITP Torpedo salvo theory

[el cid again]

Torpedoes are fired in "shots"

The fundamental package is how many are of what caliber?

The next sub package is how many TUBES fire forward, how many aft?

[Rarely - the US has one such sub I think - there are EXTERNAL tubes - and in that case, you get four sub packages:
forward internal, forward external, after internal and after external]

The next possible (but rare) complication is are there also torpedoes of a different caliber? If so - they are treated separately - as separate packages.

Once you have figured out the number of tubes, and their direction, you need to know the number of torpedoes available in that caliber. Over the long haul it does not matter critically if you know the number forward and aft (because a crew can shift them) - but it is nice to know - and you should assume about two salvos aft as a rule when you don't know exactly.

When the number of torpedoes does not permit nice multiples, you need to be sure that the SUM of all tubes of the same facing = the total number of tubes in that direction. Thus, a B1 type submarine has the same 6 forward tubes as an A1, but 17 torpedoes. So we use one line with 3 shots of 5 plus one line with 2 shots of 1.

OK - lets try some examples.

An A1 Type submarine has 6 forward torpedo tubes, no after tubes, and 18 torpedoes. That can be represented as 3 shots of 6. In RHSEOS and RHSAIO (and future RHSEEO) this is how it is done: it is assumed that a different torpedo doctrine is in place. But in the "strictly historical" scenarios, the SAME number of tubes and torpedoes will (from now on) be represented as two different lines EACH with 3 shots of 3 torpedoes facing forward. Wether or not this makes any difference at this time, it creates the possibility of firing lesser shots. Or a K5 or K6 with for forward tubes, but 10 torpedoes, gets one line of 3 shots of 3 and one line of 1 shot of 1. This guarantees that some shots will not be full spreads, and it also guarantees that, even if all forward tubes fire, the maximum salvo will never be exceeded.