This has been coming and going for me lately, and unfortunately I've been playing around with so many Mod options recently (tried SH3 Commander, RUB, U-boat War Ace, etc.) that I'm not sure which ones caused which result.
From the beginning until fairly recently, I could always spot enemy ships before my watch crew could. Then somewhere in all the recent mod experimentation, it got to where my crew was always calling out sightings well before I could see anything at all myself.
Now that I am back to running basically just RUB1.44, I'm back to being able to spot ships (mostly by the smoke plume) before my watch crew spots them again, almost all the time, although every once in a while they'll call out a sighting out around 8,100m or so that I cannot see no matter what I try. Sorta works out well mixed up like that 'cause it makes it worthwhile for me to look around myself occasionally, but I can also rely on my crew most of the time as well.
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