No, the game doesn't remember stuff from previous patrols as far as I know (if it did, that would be very cool indeed). It reloads the missions based on the patrol start date.
What was the weather like? There have been problems with ships going down in storms I know without any help from guns or torpedos. That is a possibility (and not even terrible seas, either).
It might have been started by a collision as well, combined with sea state.
Another possibility is enemy action.
There are US ships driving around, some in surprising places. I wasn;t going to touch the US missins in the campaign, but testing near Truk I keep seeing US ships in time frames where that should be not a happy place for them to be.
Perhaps there was a random encounter between them. Warships will follow waypoints even if they are engaged, so a US TF could pass on the fringes of gunnery range with a convoy, sink a couple, and sail on...
tater
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