>>6135603“The global economy is in shambles, and for the last year and a half we’ve been fighting a world-wide war against a seemingly endless horde of genocidal shapeshifting demons called Abyssals. It sounds like we’re holding things together, but barely, and the Abyssals have IADS and are rapidly gaining in capability while wartime production hasn’t quite spooled up yet.”
“Ah. Of course. I should have guessed.”
“Did you get a read on what these monsters can do?” Long Beach asks.
“You’ve seen their magic from when my pilots fought them, but otherwise, think USSR circa 1975, except stealthy shapeshifting monsters that can swim and dive in a pinch.”
“I can’t say I like the sound of that at all.”
“You’ll like the part where you were spot on about them appearing out of nowhere even less. They normally manifest in heavy weather, or so I’m told, although they can’t teleport after that.”
“And this day just keeps getting better!” Bainbridge says, throwing up her hands.
“The one bright spot is that they haven’t demonstrated fast-attack subs. Yet.”
“Hey, if they’re as good as the Soviets were back then, you think we should be still spewing out noise with those Hawkeyes?” Long Beach says, pointing up at the sky.
“That’s… a good point,” you say. “It may not be a bad idea to run below cavitation speed too - that’ll give us more noise leeway on sonar.”
Detection of a radar system is usually possible at twice or better the system’s own detection range. Having your Hawkeyes go cold is a risk, as it allowed a far greater chance of Abyssals running silent themselves penetrating your airspace, and you would be denying yourself the ability of the Hawkeye to guide AShMs for a first strike, but the flip side of that is that the longer you keep broadcasting, the better a read on your fleet’s heading the Abyssals will have, especially over the course of days.
Running slow has a similar risk - the quieter your movements, the harder it will be for subs to find you, but the easier it may be for them to give chase, and as far as you’ve seen, they have to get close to launch their fish. Running as fast as you can, as you have been doing so far, might be safer.
>[1] Total emissions blackout - passive sensors only. >[2] Keep your Hawkeyes running - their radar detections might be the only warning of a manifestation right on your heels. AND
>[A] Run below cavitation speed (~16kts) - the quiet is your best friend. > Maintain best speed (~21kts) - speed is a conventional submarine’s enemy, and with the distance you’ll need to run cut in half, fuel is less of a concern for Nagato and Prinz. 