I did Gibraltar in 1939, and it was a tad hairy. I sneaked past an ASW trawler, sank a 4000 ton cargo ship tied up, took out a 6000 ton troopship, then I sneaked further in to engage a Southampton class cruiser (10000 tons) at anchor. I was crawling just above the bottom in silent running (made reloading a problem) and toddled in at 2 knots (lucky the weather was quite bad, which I think it why the trawler didnt find me). 2nd torp I was putting into the cruiser, the trawler sailed in front of the torp (I assume it was an accident and SH3 doesnt model VC heros!) and put a hole in its bow. it sank, with its bottom above water, so Im optimistic the crew survived. Running in close to the cruiser (somehow Id missed a static target with one torp) I heard a bang and scraping sound. Id hit the antitorpedo net, and the wire cutter on the bow hadnt worked! Most worryingly the bow was hung up on the net, and I think slightly above water, just as another trawler came along. I fire my last torp over the net (this has to be some kind of record), sank the cruiser and sneaked out the way I came. Oh, except when after surfacing when passing through the straits of Gibraltar, an MTB came up and started firing at me. I eventually sank him, but took some damage from his efforts.
I was out of torps, my crew was tired, and Id finished up successfully what looked like an unpromising patrol, what with all the bad weather. Ive made a note in the ships log though, last time I ever go into Gibraltar. If its this bad in 39, whats it going to be like in 1945?
