SH is realistic enough to make an enjoyable game which is all it is at the end of the day.
Pressing a button to launch a torpeedo just makes the process managable via a user interface on screen, remove the buttons / UI and how do you propose we control anything?
perhaps by giving an order? which subsequently would still have to be done via a menu system, no?
Unless we use voice activation - but personally i dont want to shout at my PC like an idiot.
Which ever way you look at it you still are still using a keyboard and mouse to control a Virtual Uboat which is made up of a bunch of geometry on a flat screen display.
IMHO thats not very realistic either... anyways...
Like Silent Hunter, Das Boot and Iron coffins are all 'based on real events' but are designed primarily for entertainment.
Niether of them are very credible from a historical point of view.