Individualism regarding submarine commanders

[Ron Saueracker]

Just wondering whether or not there has been any thought towards individual commander aggressiveness (or lack thereof) for sub commanders for this product? I realize this is probably sounding somewhat silly but... <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0"> What I'm referring to is the overall lack of aggressive US peacetime co's during the first half of 1942 vs. the soon to come young co's such as Slade Cutter, Mush Morton, Creed Burlingame etc. Not only were their torpedoes duds but so were many of the commanders. Has this been dealt with in the abstract or has individual co's been modelled (as were pilots on BoB)? Have very little knowledge of Japanese sub driver differances on this scale...all were regular Eta Jima Samurai I suppose and performance was of a certain standard always. <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

[Ron Saueracker]

Is this not an interesting query? There has been some discussion regarding IJN AI submarine performance on other strings; just asking the same basic question of USN AI. And seeing as sub drivers were on their own until USN wolf packs (1944 on), their aggressiveness could as easily affect the war as a fleet admiral's. eg. Ray Lamb and the boys saddled with the unenviable task of defending the Malay Barrier...their lack of aggressiveness with invasion convoys all about may have been a contributing factor to the ease of Java's fall. Not unlike Adm. F.J.Fletcher's abandonning of invasion fleet prior to Savo Island.

[ratster]

"Every ship from mighty carriers and battleships down to Japanese barges and American PT boats has a commander with his own strengths and weaknesses."

Thats from the "official" site, so my guess would be yes.

[mogami]

Hi, the early war sub commanders get quite a bad rap. It was during this 'bad' commander period that US pre-war doctrine was found to not work (along with the torpedos) Pre War attack doctrine was to fire while submerged using sound data to compute the solutions. (the torpedos were not supposed to actually hit the target) Not to metion the first Gato did not enter service till a week after PH.
My point being it is difficult to be aggressive when you are required to both use bad tactics and bad weapons. Mush in my opinion might have actually been a little on the too aggressive side. (sub skippers that think taking on DD's on the surface with deck guns is fun scare me) I am guessing you already know all this and are more interested in knowing so you can devise an aggressive sub plan when the time comes.
If subs are modeled the same as other ships then training and experiance will be a factor.

[ February 11, 2002: Message edited by: Mogami ]</p>