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That doesn't seem that many
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Dunno. 15 boats in a few hundred miles of ocean centering on the Straits counts as a lot to me. And what would be the purpose? We know that breaking out of the Med into the Atlantic was immensely difficult because of the West to East current. Most places and convoy routes in the Med were within range of Axis warplanes based in Europe, so why risk trying to transfer valuable boats and crews from the Atlantic to the Med?
Especially since it's acknowledged that U-boat offensives were designed to "blockade" Britain and deny her supplies from the US and other non-occupied countries - so the Atlantic was the place.
I believe the reason so many boats were lost in the approchaes to the Straits is, not that they were trying to break through to the other side - no real point, but were hunting merchants which were using the Straits and found themselves in very heavily-protected waters.