To raise and lower the snorkel there is the X key.
My procedure for snorkel is as follow
1) Press P to go to periscope depth
2) Raise attack periscope (Ctrl + Up) and give a look around, at least one scan at sea level for ship and one at the sky for aircrafts (for what little is worth...).
3) Raise snorkel (X) and observation periscope.
4) Lower attack periscope
6) Cross fingers
Generally I snort 2-3 times a day. One time around midday to renew air supply, generally 10-15 minutes and no more. Then a couple of hours during the night to recharge batteries, generally an hour around midnight and another hour before dawn. I am very conservative with batteries charge and bottled oxygen supply (I use Hsie patch).
I have been advised to keep TC low (say 8x or less) during snorting and that is indeed a very good idea, double so during the day I might add. I have also been told that crew might pick up aircrafts (personally I have never managed when running the periscope watch by myself) via the observation periscope, however in truth so far I have relied on the noise meter as ersatz RWR until the proper snorkel mounted unit becomes available. I doubt I would have survived a single trip to AM52 without either; even so I usually keep the fingers permanently on the X and crash dive button while snorting with any TC.
Biggest problem you cannot solve by changing destination or tactics IMHO is Bergen. If you stick to semi realistic procedures, say one-two knots to leave the bunker, max 5 knots within the harbor and following the minesweeper you are still going to be near the town when the B-17s or whatever show up and that happens quite often. Afterwards it is fireworks time and you will be in the middle of it; I must have aborted about one third of the patrols after having taken some damage from them.
So far I have not engaged many convoys in the career mode but from what I have seen the best option seems to be firing a salvo of pattern runner wet-heater from standoff range at night and trying to slip away after that. In the event there are enough single ships to achieve decent tonnage where I usually go. Taking a breath however gets risky...
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