Gargamel, thanks for the tip. I saw that post but at the time was so new I didn't know what you were talking about.
Ending up getting 44,000 GRT for the patrol instead of 54,000, so no big deal.
All of my previous careers count as throwaways because of the learning curve.
Self-grading my skills after a month:
Undetected approach: C-
Undetected ambush/positioning: B+
Torpedo skills: C-
Interception: B+
Flak gun: F (should just take it out and put a hibachi on the deck)
Deck gun: C
Evasion after detection (early war): B+
PATIENCE: C-
Awareness of enemy ASW number/type/location: C-
To the skills already mentioned by others I'll add the last category. I encountered my first really sneaky Flower corvette last mission (low speed lurker, June 1940) and an undetected S-class that surprised me when I surfaced the mission before that. Battlefield awareness is pretty huge also and I'm still working on that one.
