Thanks for the comments everyone. I know its risky to go in surfaced against a convoy, even in a strong storm. From a survival standpoint it makes more sense to either just let the convoy go or at best try to attack submerged and see if you get some lucky hits. I guess I'm trying to find a way to use the storm to my advantage, even though all signs point to it being a very dangerous scenario. If the weather is that bad for what seems like a pretty large portion of the game, I was hoping to find a creative solution. Maybe its a lost cause, I'll keep working on it. At the very least its good for some stimulating conversation, thanks for the replies everyone!
The way I see it so far, the advantages of stormy weather (at least eariler in the war) are:
1. You can travel at high speeds surfaced with a low risk of detection, which is all but impossible submerged.
2. DDs are quite a bit slower in bad weather
3. DDs detection equipment wont work as well
4. Ships can be sunk with one torp instead of two or three
5. If a DD does come up on you the bad weather makes it pretty easy to escape assuming you dive quickly enough
The disadvantages are:
1. Visibility is so low that often times when you spot a ship they are already too close for torpedos
2. Cant use the deck gun
3. DDs can sneak up on you and its too late to dive when they appear in front of you (this is the biggest disadvantage of course)
Right now I'm thinking a submerged attack is the safest for sure, however a surfaced attack will yield more tonnage but with much higher risk. I guess no matter how you look at it, submerged attack is the way to go. I have to tell you though, its a lot of fun cruising around at high speed in a convoy taking out ship after ship while the DDs are hopelessly lost trying to find you. The other night I actually had a DD firing at their own ships because there were merchants between me and them. But the point isnt just to get tonnage, its also to survive so I think you all are right, its just too risky to attack like that. I've only been killed once donig it, but I think I've been pretty lucky.
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