I see now the DD is barely skimming the waves, and that the props are out of the water... That is most likely a bad spawn. We've been encountering the same thing in Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate (FotRSU), which is based on TMOv1.7. We're re-working it, since the last version of FotRS wasn't compatible with v1.5 of Silent Hunter, and it was in German only. We're making it compatible and in English, which, your profile says you're in Hamburg, so you might want it left in German... I wonder if we can do a mod for that?... Anyway, what can happen, or what we suppose happens, is that the group spawned in a confined space, and / or shallow area of water, and that particular DD probably "bumped" the seabed, and "bounced" up to that level... we're supposing, since you can't "see" anything spawn. Sorry for not seeing that in your postings, but I are old, going blind, and the sun was in my eyes... yeah, dattz duh ticket... the sun was in my eyes...
As for the damage, with the torpedo tubes, damage to the doors would be something rather common, and they might have "jammed" partially open or closed. I don't know how the game models the tubes, whether individually, in groups (like Left and Right), or as a whole. Someone else would have to answer that... I do know that it seems a bit odd that usually speaking, you'll have the deck gun damaged and the AA gun damaged most often, with the torpedo rooms close behind in frequency. I've also had the battery rooms damaged too frequently, gas leak, and had to battle surface. I usually lose those fights...
Like I said, I'd go for either stock or Webster's GFO to start off with in SH4, get used to the game, and then step it up. We're finding out in FotRSU that a LOT of the game is actually SH3, coding mistakes and all...