One opinion I would like to share with my fellow forum members:
There is nothing that screams out to me, "ahistorical!" than seeing a capital ship or ships escorting a convoy actually being in the convoy, and forced to proceed at the convoy's pace. A battleship or cruiser could make well over 20 knots, making it very difficult for a submarine to attack her. At certain times of peril, the Royal Navy would send capital ships to guard convoys, but as with fighters escorting bombers [with the exception of Goering's order to the ME-109's to stay with the bombers in the Battle of Britain, and early American missions over Germany] the escorts would keep up their higher speeds outside the convoy and would zig zag in order to stay nearby.
It would have been suicidal to place such valuable ships, easily capable of standing on their own if not chained to the convoy, inside the convoy. As with fighter planes escorting bombers, if forced to throttle back to the slower speed of their charges, they became sitting ducks. Galland and Moelders knew this and told Goering so, and American fighter commanders soon made this point clear when they were told to stick to the B-17's. Escorts are more effective when allowed to roam ahead or off to the sides.
From everything I have ever read about the naval war, I cannot recall ever reading that large naval escorts that guarded convoys sailed inside the perimeter. They sailed nearby, moving at higher speed and often changing course so as not to pull too far ahead of their convoys. They did not have to be inside the convoy to protect it from raiders, merely nearby. If anybody has sources or references that say I am wrong, please share them. I am now thinking that such capital ships should be removed from the convoys by modders, but at the same time I am sensitive to the fact that I am not a modder and I have great respect for those who are. I don't want this to sound like whining, as it is not; it is simply an observation and I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings with it.
Since I feel this way, the easiest thing for me to do about it is ignore such targets. The convoy I am currently stalking has a cruiser in it; I think I will pretend it isn't there; aside from that, there are some fat merchantmen the English merchant marine needs to be deprived of.
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