Why do warships move in zigzags? This is the answer

LONDON – If you always read defense websites, you will find that any foreign ship that invades the country’s waters will move in a pattern zigzag , based on movement information provided by security forces.

Surely you have ever wondered why warships move in a zig-zag pattern when fighting at sea with the enemy and also during regular patrols.

As reported by RT, it seems that this started around 85 years ago, when the second world war broke out

At that time, Germany had launched a campaign to encircle the British Isles in an attempt to strangle the economy and block supplies of raw materials necessary for the war from entering enemy territory.

One of the methods used is sending a group of submarines or U-boats to fire on merchant ships from enemy countries. Although protected by several warships, these German efforts greatly hampered the Allied war effort

It is at this point that a zig-zag movement is created because at that time the torpedo must be fired at the target in a straight line.

The gunnery officer would estimate the position of the enemy ship, when and where torpedoes should be fired to reach the target.

With the zig-zag movement method, it is difficult for the enemy to estimate the position of the ship and reduces the possibility of being shot.

However, with increasingly sophisticated weapons systems and sonar-equipped torpedoes, the zig-zag method is becoming obsolete.

The ship can still be torpedoed even with a zigzag movement. However, modern warships still use this method when patrolling.

The main goal today is to confuse the enemy so that it is not easy to assume where the warship is headed.

The disadvantage of zig-zag movement is that it consumes more fuel and slows down the ship’s movement.

(wbs)