Everyone else responded basically as I would have Steve, so I will keep my response short.(Afterthough, well I tried to keep it short lol)
I recall the O' Kane saying they "pushed their engines" to the limit and were making 22 knots during the rescue of downed pilots at Truk.Reports of downed pilots were coming in and forcing them to making high speed runs all over the area.Time was of the essence in order to save US lives so he allowed this.CLEAR THE BRIDGE! is the book I read this in.
Admiral Eugene Fluckey mentioned in THUNDER BELOW that the Barb made 23 knots for a time during his escape after the Namkwan Harbor raid in early 1945, which secured him the Medal of Honor.You prob are aware the waters were too shallow to dive and they were dodging radar equipped patrol boats/destroyers, really needed the speed so pushing the engines and risking danger was justified.
The book "Maru Killer" by Dave Bauslog details Seahorse spotting a Japanese TF which included Yamato on 15 June 1944(heading for Mariana Islands to combat the US invasion) and sent a contact report, which Cutter would later see as his most significant contribution to the war.Cutter wanted to attack but was not in a favorable position, he ordered the engines pushed to limits in an attempt to keep up and overtake the group in addition to shadowing and sending more reports to ComSubPac but was not able and was forced to slow down or damage the engines due to the amount of time the engines were operated outside normal parmaters.I believe the engines did suffer some damage due to the protracted pursuit at high speeds.
Now, I have not read these books in a while but am POSITIVE I read this in all three.O' Kane and Fluckey were actually there, in command so sure they would not have printed such if it were not true.They were intelligent men who had no doubt that their bendix log's reading was accurate, esp after they gave permission to push the engines to their limits so would not have put this in their books if there was any significant chance of error.Bauslog became pretty close with survivors of Seahorse including Slade Cutter himself while writing his book, I believe his account since so much of it was indeed obtained first hand from the men who actually were there.
I am no expert on diesel electric drives but no doubt there are set safe operating parameters that they abided by mostly, even in trials etc(could be wrong, just saying) that the chiefs, motor macs etc were taught to abide by these parameters but they were no doubt aware of how to get extra performance.The guys in the manuvering room could no doubt squeez extra juice out which would in turn push the diesels harder, even though they were not supposed to, if so ordered.
I believe it is realistic to be able to gain 22 knots or so for a short time in the game(just a few hours if you activate the officers ability).While I have always been bothered but the lack of equipment failure in SH 4 , esp with old boats like the S boats or Porpoises etc The time limit on the ability is a sort of stand in, you save it for when you really need it and only have it for a few hours which simulates RL in a way since you would have to slow down or damage your engines/drive, like Cutter had to do in June 1944.
When I have time, i'll find the specific chapters and pages in the book mentioning the incidents.Like others who posted before me, I'll take the words of O'Kane, Fluckey, and Cutter(via Bauslog) over anything else because they were there, had no reason to lie and it is entirely possible.
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