User Guide

BASIC LAUNCH PROCEDURES FOR SEA TARGETS
Basic launch procedures for torpedoes and antiship missiles are shown here.
1. Decide on the contact or line of bearing (LOB) that you want to attack.Assign that Contact’s ID to
a tube containing a weapon appropriate for the contact.
■ To shoot a weapon down a specific LOB select Snapshot instead of a specific contact ID. If a
contact still has a visible LOB on the Fire Control map you can only target it with a Snapshot.
You can not assign that contact’s ID to a tube.
2. Enter presets for the weapon in the selected tube. Presets are instructions given to the weapon
before it is launched regarding its search mode, when it should enable, and the maximum and
minimum depth run depth among others. Presets differ depending on the weapon type.These are
defined later in this chapter.
■ If your Fire Control Auto Crewman is on, he enters the presets for you.
■ For a Snapshot, enter the desired LOB along with other desired presets.
3. Initiate the launch process. Before you can launch the weapon you must do the following:
• Flood the tube and equalize the pressure in the tube with that of the water outside the ship.The
Seawolf’s torpedo tubes and the 688(I)’s VLS tubes are equalized automatically after they are
flooded. In the 688(I) and Akula a torpedo tube must be equalized manually after it is flooded.
• Open the muzzle door.The muzzle door is the opening in the sub’s hull through which the
weapon passes. Opening this door generates noise that could be detected by nearby ships and
subs.
4. Launch (fire) the weapon.
■ To stop this process or to change the weapon in the tube, or reload the tube after the weapon
has been launched, the muzzle door must first be closed. This reverses the process and allows
a different weapon to be loaded.
NOTE: A torpedo or a UUV can no longer be wire-guided once the muzzle door of the tube that fired
it has been closed.Closing the muzzle door cuts the guidance wire.
BASIC LAUNCH PROCEDURES FOR LAND TARGETS
To attack a land target from Fire Control, the latitude and longitude coordinates of the site must be
fed into the fire control system and a series of waypoints defined for the missile to follow.The
coordinates are usually defined in a tasking message.
1. Select a tube containing a land attack missile. (In the 688(I) and Akula go to the Launch Panel to
see what weapons are loaded in each tube or from the Target Display panel click the preset
button for a tube to see the name of the weapon loaded.)
2. Define waypoints. In the tube’s presets area click DEFINE TARGET WAYPOINTS then click the Fire
Control map to place four weapon waypoints. Each waypoint can be selected and placed at a
specific latitude and longitude. Click the waypoint to display its latitude and longitude presets.
■ The outermost waypoint should be placed at the exact latitude and longitude of the target as
specified in your orders.
■ If a landfall waypoint is directed in your tasking make sure that one of the earlier waypoints is
placed at that latitude and longitude.
3. Set the destruct range for the missile.This is the range at which the missile will self-destruct if it
has not encountered a target.
4. Initiate the launch procedure by flooding the horizontal tube or pressurizing the vertical tube.
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