I tell you what !!!!
Reading through the actual patrol reports is just bloody awesome to me.
Someone not too long ago was asking about modding a random failure on board. From what I have read that would be a realistic mod.
The last report I read had an upper crank shaft broken in the #4 main engine that had to be replaced and her 20mm shield washed completely off the boat bu heavy seas. They also reported the periscoped fogged really bad after 30 seconds of exposure. Further reports stated the periscope could not be used more than 10 seconds at a time due to fogging.
http://issuu.com/hnsa/docs/ss-280_steelhead
The Atlantic exploits of USS Barb (Lt.Cdr. John R. Waterman) is a good read as well.
The Barb had a great report about how she was not able to maintain depth at 120 feet due to heavy seas and had to go deeper to find smoother water to maintain depth.
Other patrols for US FLEET BOATS are found here :
http://www.hnsa.org/doc/subreports.htm