Admiral Doenitz always looked at the hydrophone as a tool. He wrote books and procedures on this topic.
His idea was that no piece of equipment could replace the human being. The hydrophone was good, but you had to get "eyes on" as soon as possible.
Visual contact was key to the Uboat. This was however, a flaw. While Uboats relied on visual confirmations, and human intellect to conduct an attack, the allies were hardcore developing radar and other tools to fight them!
While watch crews were looking for targets, allies picked up the radar blip miles away and already moving in.
But in the end, Germans or Allies, you have to move in for that visual contact.
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