I have to stress what Kpt. Lehmann said about going to flank speed being the most important factor with defended targets.
In the game, it can be a lot of fun to crash dive out of battle area. But avoid it at all costs.
Actually, when planning any attack you should ask yourself - Is there a good chance I'll be forced to crash dive / go at flank speed? - If so, don't attack.
Last patrol I attacked a task force and sunk a battleship. Soon after I'd fired the torps I begin to suspect that thanks to SH3Commander's malfunction option (love it!) my diving controls weren't working very well. I'd go down, but it would take a VERY LONG TIME.
So after like three minutes of diving from peri depth (at a knot and a half) I'd gone down about half a meter. Not good considering there were 9 destroyers looking for the guy who'd just sank their big buddy.
Yeah, 9.
Finally I couldn't take it and I ordered ahead full. After about 5 seconds I thought - this is stupid - and I went back to silent running.
The few seconds of extra speed probably did help me get down a little be quicker, but I'm glad I came to my senses.
Slowly but surely I got down. And after about 20 minutes all 9 DDs were circling the spot I'd fired my torps from, while I was a good distance away (well, a good distance for 1.5 knots).
There were plenty of cans dropped, and we were rocked a bit - but no damage at all. No evasive manuevers needed.
I'm talking early war here, before the escort detection improvements. But yeah, save crash diving/flank speed for planes and extreme emergencies. Not as a standard manuever to get away from a convoy.
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