In mid-1943 I was sent to a grid off the coast of Northern Africa (near those islands). On the way back to France I decided to snoop around outside the entrance to the Mediterranean for some easy merchants.
It was near the coast of Morocco that I picked up a huge enemy task force traveling at high speed. Through the binoculars I could make out a V&W Destroyer so I thought I had come across a convoy. I went down to 30 meters to listen. My sonar man picked up only warship contacts. I was about 6 km away.
I surfaced and went in a little closer and what do I see? A carrier! The only problem was that I was still too far away and these guys were doing over 20 knots. I would never be able to get into the perfect firing position without getting sighted by the pesky destroyers.
As annoyed as I was, I had to let them pass though in retrospect I could probably have come up with a firing solution for the carrier...
