I just docked at another port last night during my career. The patrol number does infact increase. I remember I read something about when your in port it accounts for around 1 or 2 weeks of your career. After reloading and continuing with my patrol I notised that all the ships I sunk were erased. I checked my save files and the renown from before I docked tell after I docked did not increase.
I sure hope i get the renown for them when I return to my home port or im going to load one of my previous saved games.
Wolfy