All of your suggestions are welcome and interesting but would someone please opine on the question about time! Is my game time, say 1300 hrs, the same as the missions time from the ME if it was 1300, or is my time an offset from my base time?

From everything I know it should be your base time.

Thanks Admiral.

Yes, and as I and Scurvy has stated, make sure you note the direction of the FIRST group that enters your spawn zone and then pay attention to other groups that come from that direction. This will give you an idea of a basic course, as if you just head in the direction of the first group, you may fall behind. What I do is mark the first group, then make marks from all other groups coming from that direction and use that as a basic course to try and get in front. If you don't notice and mark the first group, then you get planes coming and going and then you have to decide which direction.
Course, when I head that way, I watch for the big lag so I can check radar.

The problem of course is not to let planes spot you, so it's a lot of up and down and hoping you can come in contact. The bad news, if you're spotted, you may be dealing with hundreds of planes attacking you and lose any chance of catching the TF.

Must my sub be in proximity to a spot near the waypoints, but more than 20 nm, for this Car Div to spawn? Or, based on the campaign mission, is the TF already there following it's waypoints and I just need to intersect it at the right time?

If your sub is within twenty miles of a spawning point the group won't spawn. If the TF is already spawned and steaming towards the battle the all you have to do is intercept it.

I'm not familiar with the ME, so how can I find the spawning points?

There is one spawning point, the original one, that's the one you need to be away from. With RSRD most groups spawn near or in port. Other than that you need to be along the waypoint path.

Thanks for that. I thought I had plotted the Car Div path as it rounded San Cristobal, allowed for a three hour time difference since my base shows PH, but I still haven't intersected that group. Gotta keep tryin!

If you haven't rebased to Pearl yet you should still be running on Surabaya time.

Not sure how you could've missed it. With RSRD, the group should come that way. Try about 35 NMs south from the center of San Cris...

I've found that until you get radar it's quite easy to miss even the largest TF. For every time I ambush the Midway force on it's way to the battle there is another 10 times I miss it.

I'm no longer sure what time it is, but PH has the tilted anchor but I have'nt got there yet! I do not have radar, just 10nm passive sonar. I plotted the waypoints that I read from the ME and sat on that line from just below San Cristobal to its point west of Guadalcanal where the TF turned south early on May 6 to eventually launch first attack on Sims. I'll keep tryin', ain't gone home with a full load of fish if there's an IJN CV around.

So you have yet to dock at Pearl? If so then you should be on Surabaya time still.

Just be careful, seems when they turn south, the TF picks up speed to about 20 kts. If you can get there the day before the battle at San Cris and just wait. Don't sink the US carriers that come through there the day before...

Well, after "sitting" on the coordinates where the Car Div turned San Cristobal for 24 hours on May 5th without encountering anything, I have left the area and the fate of this battle to Adm Fletcher and Fitch. I can do no more and do not feel derelict in my duty, just frustrated!
Yet I wonder if my sonar worked while being on the surface! Hmmm!

Ummm about that....

Why not try to intercept the Port Moresby Invasion Group? It comes back to Rabaul, so just get there a day early, 6th would be fine and wait until it comes. Just sit in the middle of the strait at Rabaul.