Night battles

[disc]

There were many night battles from the Russo-Japanese War through WWII. Port Arthur, Tsushima, Jutland, and Java Sea all had big night components. I think this would be important to add to the game, but I wonder how.

Command and control was very difficult at night. It was hard to tell where one's own ships were, much less the enemy's. Giving direction to a fleet may well be impossible unless it remains in constant close contact. In conditions of radio silence, things were even worse. Friendly fire was a grave threat.

To search for an enemy before radar, the primary method was lookouts with binoculars. During search, essentially the primary form of illumination was moonlight and starlight, as well as whatever lights were visible on shore or on enemy ships. Search planes could help; besides searching in the darkness, these could drop flares to illuminate areas.

Despite the name, searchlights were not spectacularly effective at searching out an enemy. They had relatively narrow cones, so they would need to sweep over areas carefully (the same issue as with active sonars of the time, incidentally). Searchlights also provided a bright aiming point for any enemies in the vicinity, telling them where to shoot. 

Once contact was made with an unknown ship, it was necessary to confirm it was an enemy. If all allied ships were accounted for, then the conclusion might be obvious. Otherwise, if it was known that allied ships were in the area, but it was not known precisely where, it might be necessary to get a positive ID, which might require closing with the unknown ship or otherwise wasting precious time and the element of shock. If it was particularly unclear, one might try sending light or radio signals -- which would also give away any surprise and might be responded to by gunfire. Or one could open fire immediately, without any identification of the target, which could have unfortunate consequences.

If the unknown ship was thought to be an enemy, searchlights could be switched on to allow gunners and torpedo launchers to get a good lock. This would immediately disclose to the enemy (or unfortunate friendly) that they were under attack, and at least the general direction of an attacker. Friendly ships might remain dark and use the illuminating beam to attack, maintaining their own stealth. If lights were only switched on periodically, it might be hard for the enemy to exactly track the lighting ship. Alternately, or conjointly, guns could fire starshells to illuminate the target for a short time. The simplest starshells were simply enormous flares, but more advanced types incorporated parachutes to keep them in the air longer. If the starshell burned close to or behind the target, relative to the shooter, then the target might be outlined and the shooter relatively hidden (being farther away from the light). Allied aircraft might also drop flares during this phase, to help with spotting.

The flash of gunfire might be visible to the enemy, as might gunpowder launches of torpedoes. This could allow them to get a fix on the firer. The IJN in particular used reduced flash propellants on some smaller guns (I believe only 120mm and 140mm) to reduce this firing signature; compressed air torpedo launching had a similar bonus.

If hits were obtained and the enemy ship burst into flames, then searchlights and starshells might no longer be necessary, as the burning ship became an easy target. On the other hand, if there was no fire, or if it were put out quickly, it might be difficult to tell if hits were made, or what damage had been inflicted.

Such short, sharp, and close encounters would favor devastating short-range weapons that could be fired from relative stealth: Torpedoes. Destroyers and torpedo boats held an edge. On the other hand, a battleship might find it relatively hard to leverage its ranged gunpower against small attackers that suddenly appeared from the darkness at point-blank distances. Hits might not stop them from attacking. Even if one attacker were dispatched, there might be others drawn to the scene, and any searchlight used to help the battleship would become a target.

The advent of radar (and, to a lesser extent, long-ranged sonar) changed this whole calculus.

 

I think night battles are incredibly important, but I think they would be hard to implement in a meaningful way. I'd like to know what others' thoughts are here.

Edited April 7, 2020 by disc

[Purgato]

I think there are certainly a few ways to go about it.

The simplest, and probably least interesting would be making it purely an aesthetic thing.

Something a bit better would be to simply make it a flat penalty to spotting ships and aiming.
Now what could make this more interesting is using some of what you mentioned, flares, star shells, searchlights. All of which could be different tech that would needed to be researched to help night combat go more effectively, all of course having their own drawbacks and bonuses to assist. Making it visual as well could be extremely nice, plus it would give the player an idea if whatever night fighting tech they have is actually working or not.
Although as you mentioned as well, this would make many battleships into torp fodder. Which isn't unrealistic, but abusing night battles would be something that, while could make some tactical sense, may not be the greatest for game play. Like maybe allow for a tendency towards night battles if you wanted, but making you ships only engage at night would seem just silly. Plus it could act as more of a sudden turning point, maybe give very little clue to what fleet you'd be encountering, making it hard to tell if that battle will go in your favor or not.

Still, not having night battles would be a serious disappointment, even if they only are visual.

[roachbeef]

Another suggestion: radio silence. If part of your fleet moves out of visual range, they will be AI-controlled unless you risk sending out a radio message. Once we get proper radar and hydrophones (with a screen and everything) it'll be much more realistic.

[madham82]

All for the idea, but of course won't be as detailed as you laid out @disc (just too complicated I'm sure). Definitely should be worked in the crew experience when added. The Japanese spent a lot of time training for night actions.