[moscowexile]

As regards the lust for action and the thrill of the chase whilst playing this simulation, I think that it should be realised that in reality many U-boats spent many a patrol without ever sighting their prey: Atlantic calm days and clear days are not numerous and lookouts, even German lookouts, were not always alert.

I have recently read volume one of Len Deighton's "Blood, Tears and Folly - An Objective Look at World War II". In this work, in which Deighton deals at length with the early stage (1939-1940) of the Battle of the Atlantic, the author states:

"Always we must remember the speeds at which the opposing units could travel. It has been nicely depicted by a historian who suggested that we think of the Atlantic in terms of European distances: a U-boat commander in Vienna is told to attack a convoy in London. On the surface he can move at the speed of a pedal cycle, submerged he will go at approximately walking pace. Then we understand why convoys escpoed intact, despite the men of B-Dienst."

I have been trying to find the historian whom Deighton alludes to in the above quotation, but to no avail.