SOP on my boat is decks awash at night as you close with the convoy -- "decks awash" being fully flooded fore/aft ballast and vacant negative tank. For safety we keep dive planes 5 degrees up.
Why decks awash? Your crash dive speed is much faster (maybe 10 seconds or so). A huge difference!
(The main limit on crash dive speed, besides human reaction time and coordination, is filling the main ballasts.)
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