Keep in mind that directly beneath the funnel is not always the sweet spot for all ships.
Furthermore the 'holes' in the ships are just graphical eye candy and do not necessarly a true representation of the amount of damage.
Ships running off at flank "every time" is a bit odd. You sure about that. I quite often see a ship slow considerably after a strike.
I will typically use at least two or three torpedoes per target just to make sure because of possible duds and often one is just not enough.
