When you start taking damage it doesn't help to have your finger on the backspace key since it DOES automatically drop to 1 at the first loss of hit points. The problem is how long it takes, at the first hit program commands stop TC, it takes 1 second to stop it - if TC is at 1024 1 second is about 17 minutes of game time, which is a lot of banging.
I sneak into Osaka frequently to shoot fish in a barrel (KOBE always has some juicy CVs and BBs sitting at anchor) and often get caught in shallow water by a patrol who promptly summons every subchaser and destroyer in the harbor. Finally sink a few and get the rest biting on a decoy long enough to sneak off a few miles and settle on the bottom while the DC crew repairs damage, but no TC allowed while you're waiting - if TC is higher than 4 while you're sitting on the bottom, the "run aground" program kicks in and starts taking hit points away. Rapidly.
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