Sorry Abd,but I told you that on my personal experience,because:
I say you CAN ,not must come back on same starting patrol base,in fact you can find awesome base to resupply during mission, and go on,until white bar is filled;about me, I always try to come in my base,if fuel lets me do it;
It happened to me too,to sink some war supplies ships that had nothing to do with my mission,but seeing white bar progressing on another one.
Good,so I save time...
then,that curious admiral,on my game,lets me choose same mission even if is ended,and I could choose it to increase the total amount ok sinked ships.( in fact, weeks go on and you risk to go over end date..)
by you, I discover it's a bug on my SH5 installation...but it's so and maybe it's only about first campaign,because I'm only in the second one..
I understand that personal experiences may generate mess for someone else,but it's just to help and give some more information for who need it...