Hey Clayp! I'll take a chop at those questions there...
The leak in the overhead plumbing is the same thing as all the clanging and crashing and yelling when you restart a game after quitting for awhile. It's just eye and ear candy, meaning nothing but "This is a kindly reminder that your sub has some damage you might not remember from last time you played. <wink> It's still there!"
@#%$#$$ it. Here I am writing dialog for the "Sultry Blond Mod" which would take the place of the leaky plumbing and crashing smashing "We're taking damage!!!!" silliness.
OK, second question. The envelope please..... Nobody, but NOBODY knows the contents of this envelope, hermetically sealed, stored on Funk and Wagnall's front porch overnight in a driving rainstorm and delivered to me unopened by the hand of man.
OK, you can cheat a bit and never have to choose your sub loadout again as long as you're willing to start out from the same port at the same time. Just start a game, set up your sub and stay in harbor. Save the game with a name like Mission Start Pearl 1942. Then play. when you save the game, of course, you'll save it under a different name. Now when you're ready to begin a new career, you don't do it! You just load up Mission Start Pearl 1942 and rock and roll.
See? I'm sneakier than I look.