"U-Boats in the Mediterranean did shoot at anything they found; targets were too scarce to save torpedoes, so they wasted them on fishing boats if necessary."
Very true. I've justed started another Mediterranean career (U-73, Oct. '41) & the merchant traffic is next to nothing compared to the Atlantic. What is there usually consists of one merchant accompanied by at least two escorts. I've been lucky so far though; in this first patrol I've managed to sink 4 merchants (3 escorted, 1 lone) for just over 22,000 tons. The first was a Empire-Type freighter that I crippled. I shot two torpedoes at her; 1 missed & the other slowed her down to a crawl. I had to wait until the escorts abandoned her to finish her off with a third shot. The 2nd was a large merchant. Again the same result (2 shots, 1 miss) & I had to wait around until she was ditched by her escort. Finished with a stern shot when the V&W was far enough away for me to escape. 3rd one was a Granville freighter that was really stubborn. She took 3 shots (1 missed because I misjudged her draft
) & still kept plugging along. Fortunately she had no escort so I surfaced (it was dark) & finished her with the deck gun. Last one was a Passenger/Cargo that I hit with one torpedo & sank with the deck gun. So I have 2 torpedoes left in the fore tubes & 1 or 2 in the stern. I'll be saving 1 of the stern torpedoes for the trip home in case I run into trouble.