Ok,
Patrol #5 found me curious about the west coast of England. So after patroling my assigned sector (yeah I know it makes no difference for earning the renown), I made my way around the north of Scotland and down the west coast (sinking 3 ships along the way). Just started turning east towards the Irish Sea off the north coast of Ireland and saw a small merchant.
Seas were rough, so I only risked one torpedo figuring it wouldn't hit anyway. Yep, it missed and I was already diving and running away from my ambush point. In short order I was hearing 4-7 warships on the hydrophone! So far, I've been keeping to the North Sea and attacking unescorted merchants, so this got exciting real fast.
Took a lot of damage from the depth charges...deck gun, flak gun, radio antenna, periscope (basically the whole watch area) all destroyed. Damage control managed to keep the flooding under control and repair key systems. After a couple of game hours, the bad guys gave up and I was able to get away, surface and limp home.
