As for the hydrophones, the early old boats did need to be submerged for it to function correctly, and the game tries to simulate that. The Gar / Gato and later boats didn't have that, since their "heads" were on the bottom of the hull, but I forget how old "old" really is here (Porpoise class??)... CapnScurvy has a post with pictures that shows the various boats like that. They're the ones like on the S-boat, to the port side, just forward of the conn, about a foot tall, like a "T" on the deck. Those have to be submerged to be useful. A little note about that though, I've gone to crash dive, which puts you at Ahead Flank with a steep dive angle. You shouldn't be able to hear diddly squat on a hydrophone, other than the roar of the water as it rushes past your hull, and yet, "Sonar contact! Bearing 348! Medium Range, CLOSING!!!"... But yeah, like RR says, radar is your friend, except for submerged targets, which are few and far between in the game (usually).
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