I got the same thing happen to me recently, i started a new career with GW3 in january 42 in a IXB and for my maiden patrol i got some blind watch crew in the conning tower.
Twice in a row they failed to spot a destroyer, actually they failed to spot the whole 3 ships convoy. I mean i had this happen to me before, but the weather was awful or it was at night, once i got rammed by a destroyer in the med and another time an armed freighter emerged from the fog right in front of the U-boat but here it was different. The weather was clear, during the day and in the F4 view i could see the ships on the horizon, it was less than 3 kms but no contact report or anything from the WO and nothing on the map. I also shadowed this small convoy and waited submerged in ambush but the hydrophone failed to spot anything and i missed the convoy. It was a little odd.
I sailed back to the harbour and the next mission was fine. I blamed it on the fact it was my first patrol with a green crew.
