Ok boys - your advice helped me through patrol 18.
Patrol 19 was different. I traded in my VIIC for a new VIIC/'41, after reading that it had a deeper crush depth. Well, I unfortunately I found the crush depth. A lone River Class detected me at the Mediterranean intersection, in perfectly clear weather. On his first run he hit me with a hedgehog, which flooded the bow, forward quarters, and radio room. I got that under control and went down to 160. His second run he hit me again with a hedgehog. I started getting crushed, so I blew ballast and tried to power my way up about 50m. As I broke 100m, the death-flicker stopped, and I thought I was ok. Then I get a stream of reports about propellors, engines, and equipment being destroyed. I flip to the damage control screen and the electric engine room is red, and then suddenly everyone inside is dead. One second later the death spreads forward and it's over. U-953 was sunk with all hands on her maiden voyage. Say goodbye to Ernst Sperling and his ~elite~ crew. -gasp-....
