Sounds like you are playing the version right out of the box. This means there is traffic everywhere. I guess to keep the players interests up. At any rate, when I played the original version I would just pass the targets and get to my mission spot. That got kind of senseless when I was returning to port with 80000 tons. After that, I downloaded Run Silent Run Deep. Historical traffic mod. Traffic is better and more reasonable. Sometimes days without a sighting. It is more of a realism mod. So if you do download it, expect reasonable traffic and reasonable tonnage. It is all in what type of game play you are interested in.
Stern torps....I use them to finish off vessels. I also will stay submerged in the path of targets with my stern tubes set up. In your minds eye you have to use the stern tubes like you use your bow tubes. Only difference is are looking at 180 degrees from your bow. In convoys I use the bow tubes first and swing around to let them have the aft tubes
