Ah yes! I love being the one to solve a controversy. How about from the mouth of the master himself Otto Kretschmer.
From the book "The Golden Horseshoe, The Wartime Career of Otto Kretschmer, U-Boat Ace."
From page 83. Otto lists 12 standard operating procedures for
U-99. Number 12 reads and I quote:
"U-99 will dive for two hours just before dawn each day at sea. This will serve twofold purposes: first it will avoid the risk of running into ships and planes we have not seen during the night and which might see us first; and secondly IT GIVES US A CHANCE TO USE THE HYDROPHONES TO SWEEP FOR UNSIGHTED SHIPS. In addition, it gives the crew an opportunity to relax, clean up and have breakfast in peace"
So diving to detect ships is not as one poster said "arcade like". It is Historically accurate. The Mods I use do not allow lone ship contacts to appear on the map unless seen by the crew. So I use Otto's method above to sweep for targets two hours every morning. I have managed to pick up 2 ships in three patrols with just that method. Pretty realistic I think.
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