well the IX is a good boat... but it is so slow under water...
of course the way you describe it I am doing it now, too.
Till now I did as follows: killed the guards and raided the convoy of the biggest ships and then pulled back to reload. (often they shouted for help and I killed those, too)
overall I only need one torp per escort ship...
With the VII I sneak in.. shoot all my tubes and play cat an mouse with the guards hiding under or next to ships... or simply sneak away to reload dived... making then a second run on the convoy reloaded
Both worked... both gave me good scores in fact the IX is more effective once one knows the powers and weaknesses (ever tried to dive or raise fast in a IX ... or make a hard turn while being under depth charge fire... forget it. ... the VII running silent 2kt raises 4-6m per minute... the IX only 1 !!! diving the same ...)
The IX is just different.
But I like the "sneak in, hit hard and get lost" with my VII method best right now
I wrote a topic showing how powerfull the 10.5 of the IX is (took down a Black swan with it) and no boubt the IX is a fine ship... er.... boat...
but again: the VII gives me more fun playing.