Quote:
Originally Posted by andwii
Here is something that ive been wondering for awhile, out of the stories ive read from the merchant marines of WW2, if a torpedo hit their ship they would get off as fast as they could.
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Sounds like a recipe for scattering a convoy, which not what you want to happen. The convoy would often turn away from where the attack took place to present a narrower target, but simply running pell-mell at each captain's discretion would invite disaster and collisions.
You also have to bear in mind that the top speed of a WW2 merchant was about 12 knots. You're not going anywhere fast and a U-Boat on the surface at night can still easily out run you. Plus, I don't know of too many WW2 merchants which could crank up to full speed with a torpedo in their belly.