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Originally Posted by Saukko
Maybe not worth it, but more or less historically correct.
I found this at uboat.net, U-596 did some deck gun practice on 20th and 21st August 1943.
Date - U-boat - Commander - Name of ship - Tons - Nationality
20 Aug, 1943 - U-596 - Victor-Wilhelm Nonn - El Sayeda - 68 - Egyptian
21 Aug, 1943 - U-596 - Victor-Wilhelm Nonn - Panikos - 21 - British
21 Aug, 1943 - U-596 - Victor-Wilhelm Nonn - Namaz - 50 - British
21 Aug, 1943 - U-596 - Victor-Wilhelm Nonn - Lily - 132 - Palestinian
The Panikos was sunk with 25 rounds from the deck gun, the Namaz with 13 rounds and the Lily with 8 rounds.
See? First it took 25 rounds to sink a 21 ton boat, but then they finished 132 ton boat with just 8 rounds.
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How common was this? I know that Heinrich Liebe (U-38) sunk the Irish trawler Leukos in March 1940 12 miles NW of Tory Island. What would Dönitz's view have been? I have my doubts that he could possibly have saw them as targets of any real value to the war effort. Sea fishing would not have provided an adequate food source for Britain, especially inland. Focus on the imports from America and other supporting nations.
The existence of Q-ships in the Great War would indicate that it wasn't all that uncommon since the very idea was to lure the German u-boat into close quarters on the surface and engage it with the concealed guns. Smaller vessels, such as trawlers, were favored for this task. Again though, they were more effective in certain areas where the Germans would expect vital imports or movement of materials of importance to the British war effort, such as coal and oil. Fishing vessels wouldn't be much of an attraction.