Career newbie question
 

So I first start off with a mission that directs me to patrol around the area of Hokkaido. In a Tambor class, I make my pitstop at Midway for some fuel, then I ship off again for a long haul towards Japan. When I get there, my fuel is somewhere at 37%. I do my patrols, and then I decide to head back to base. Halfway back, I start running very low on diesel fuel, so then I start using the method of cruising at persicope depth, then stop, resurface and recharge. Rinse and repeat. The problem with this is that it is extremley tedious and time consuming. Are there any types of methods that would make returning to base less painful? I don't want to stop running my game at 100% realism.

Don't race from Midway to the patrol area at flank speed. You want to be travelling at 2/3rds ideally.

Agreed.

Without fine tuning it down to the best speed in knots, 2/3 speed is the most fuel-efficient.