If you attempt an attack in daylight or even a well-lit night you should probably go to periscope depth as soon as you come back within visual range of the task force. Also go to silent running and stay that way.
This means that you will need to get far enough ahead of the carrier's projected course to make your attack run submerged at about 2 knots max and still get close enough to have a decent shot at hitting her.
I've gotten within 3 km of a destroyer escorting a convoy at night without being spotted, but a whole task force - I don't know if I'd risk that on the surface regardless of the conditions.
At any rate, if you are able to get close enough to take a decent shot, fire all your forward tubes at her and then don't stick around to see if they hit. Stay silent and start diving - set a course away from the scene and go deep. With any luck you'll remain undetected unless and until one or more of your eels hits home and if you're deep enough and far enough away from where you were when you fired, the destroyers will never come close to looking in the right spot even with their ASDIC engaged.
That's the only way I ever managed to sink the Courageous in the single mission for it and still get away clean.
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