I turn the boat towards home the instant I shoot my last eel, but not a minute before. I consider it shameful to pull into port with torpedos remaining.
I will continue the patrol once I'm out of torpedos if by some miracle I hit one of those utterly rare patches of good weather. I will then hang around till the weather turns nasty again.
I always surface cruise at 9 knots so fuel consumption is rarely a problem - I don't have too many patrols where I have to cut it short because of fuel. I have the navigator run reports frequently on fuel burn vs. distance to make sure I've got sufficient reserves.
I always take the time to travel home, reverse the boat all the way into the dock, and listen to the band for a bit before exiting. (I think it was Sailor Steve who first mentioned the best practice of reversing into the slip, and I've copied it ever since.)
Days in port is random, set by SH3 Commander.
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