@AS
I can honestly say I do not have destroyers detecting me at night. (1941) I do not run at the convoy during the day at all. Night time is the right time. I shadow waaaayyyy off. General course heading and lay my course to intercept at night. If I'm so lucky to get in the path of a convoy during the day, it is all done submerged.
Night time attack I can get within 500m of a destroyer if the weather is not the greatest. Placid waters not so close. Maybe 1000m off!
The warships are not super-uber. They are very real IMHO.
Convoys can be pentetrated and dispatched in GWX. I toy with them all the time. I find the side that the warships are not on

Send out all the torps I can and dive away. Resume the shadowing from far away! Remember, you really are not going to set off torpedos and blast around a convoy loading more....just did not happen. Working the convoy can take days