Some of the mods are "better" than others, but not really. Once you get used to using them, there's nothing to it. The main thing to remember about the surface ship is that it is pretending to be a surface ship. You are still using the submarine interface to control the ship, even though some folks are pretty good at disguising the ship's interface.
As a "submarine", a player can start a mission or patrol on the surface or submerged. A surface ship of course, cannot. So if you find a surface ship mod that does not have a SingleMissions folder in it, you'll have to alter the ones in the game to have the player vessel on the surface, or else make your own missions. Same with the SinglePatrols folder. If you start a scenario with a surface ship and the "Height=" value is less than zero ("0"), then you ship is sunk and destroyed before you start.
As for career starts, similarly, it is a matter of set-up for the ship, and whether it is listed in the CareerStart.upc and Flotillas.upc files, as to whether it will show on the game's menu. Even then, the PatrolObjectives file should be altered to allow for the surface ship limitations, such as not being capable of "Insertion" or "Lifeguard" missions - at least, not without a ~lot~ of file editing.
ETR3(SS) (himself an excellent submarine and surface ship modder) compiled a list a while back: "
Playable Surface Ships Mods List". some of the links are dead, but some are not. There have also been several added since, including several from ETR3(SS) himself, and thangba202. Most are usually found in the
SubSim Downloads-SH4-Graphics-Ships section. Someone else may be more specific for you later.
