I tried Sergbuto's suggestion of making the lead ship of a convoy instead an AI U-boat (actually convoy HX41; two convoy attacks, excluding attempts foiled by thick fog).
This indeed caused position reports on the map to be shown as blue (for German), but using the player's submarine icon (in my case, the default SH3 circle). The familiar square red marker had been temporarily replaced.
When my U-boat was close enough to force 3-D rendering of the convoy, in less than a minute (real time, at 128x tc) the blue circle was replaced with the square red convoy marker. Presumably this meant that the AI U-boat had been sunk.
Arriving closer with my U-boat (god's eye turned on), it became apparent that the front of the convoy was in slight disarray (as postulated by Sergbuto), and the escorts were again behind the convoy. One or more of the merchant ships had suffered damage, with flames/smoke on the merchants seen from the U-boat. However, again it was rather easy easy to attack the convoys, with the escorts departed from the convoy front.
This is certainly an interesting result, and it is not unrealistic for a U-boat to find a convoy temporarily unprotected while the escorts chase a different U-boat. I think this is probably worth following up as a permanent addition for convoys between July 1942 and May 1943.
It also proves that convoys do not attack enemy ships within their ranks until rendered in 3-D. This has often been stated, including in this thread, but I prefer proof to hearsay.
Stiebler.
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