[qbidlevaquin]

Restarted that mission from an incremental save, started follwing the general west northwest direction of the Vals and Zeroes. Then on the surface went flank speed north then west and waited patiently. Sonar said warship contact, went to periscope depth, was disappointed to see two widely space DD's, they must have spotted me as they came at me like gangbusters. I immediately dove below the thermocline and changed directions, I did leave some decoys as I went below the thermocline. I resurfaced miles north of them but they were not interested because they were circling where the decoys. Radar picked up the rest of the task force barrelling north/west at a fast pace. I sat and waited to identify them. It ended up being a fleet carrier in the Akagi class with some cruisers, two ISE class battlewagons and more DD's. They might have been what was left of the Midway TF, heading back for the safety of Japan. While battling this TF, I saw the Akagi CV pushing a DD that got in it's way, what was strange was that neither ship sustained any apparent damage. By the time that I was out of torpedeos, the IJN was down one fleet carrier, two ISE Battleships and a couple DD's. I had to retire to Midway for refit and repair of the damage that avoiding the DD's caused. I went on three different orders on this patrol after this opportunity of a lifetime. I had only 3 torpedoes left and they order my Gato to photograph the harbor at Tapei. I had just inserted an agent in Osaka harbor and had my way with the merchants in the East China sea, not wanting to be a dead hero, I returned to Pearl without the photos. I was expecting a court marshal at least, but I got two medals the crew got a lot of promotions and I was offered the first Baleo class sub for my next patrol.
So it looks like the tonnage overruled the dumb desk bound admiral's decision to reprimand me for not completing a suicide mission. So my new motto is come back alive.
Obid