Okay, so I'm playing SH4 with Operation Monsun, and starting at the beginning of the war in a Type II. I'm setting up to start and I'm looking at the crew screen, and I count 40 guys. I don't know how the game actually works, so maybe it has to have that many. I know the Type II only carried 25-28 men, so I experiment - I start dismissing crew members. I let go some from the watch crew and some of the torpedo crew and one of the two Damage Control Guys.
Now only having 28 crew (plus myself) I set out from Kiel. The first thing I notice is that there is no-one manning the dive planes, which is correct for surface-running. The watch crew still seems to spot ships okay, meaning four or five minutes before I can see them. When I dive I order Battle Stations and move the watch crew to the conning tower and control room so they'll be safe. And inside I now see seven guys crowded into the control room, which feels great.
So my experience is that while you have to juggle them a little bit, you can run a Type II in OpsMonsun with just 28 crew.
