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That's a very strange definition for "just fine." A submerged submarine cannot function without moving, especially if it is altering its buoyancy radically by firing torpedoes. Having a solution that is only momentarily valid is also not "just fine."
Since you can do constant bearing attacks without using the TDC at all, and the above defined "just fine" TDC gives you no advantage over the constant bearing attacks, "just fine" is extended to a submarine with no TDC at all!
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When I said that the TDC without PK update would be
just fine as a solver, I meant exactly what I said. Shortening the bolded phrase to
just fine misses the critical emphasis.
An instantaneous solution is "just fine" because while 2 seconds after the solution is not exactly correct, it is very close. One can also harness an instantaneous solution for a predicted instant in the very near future (5 seconds or so). The PK component of the TDC is not necessary for solution results that exceed the capabilities of the firing hardware and tube alignment tolerances as the Kriegsmarine would attest.
I'm also not suggesting the submarine not move during an attack, but that the assumption that the submarine is stationary mathematically is perfectly consistent with a highly accurate torpedo solution. The actual speed of the submarine is of little consequence to the solution.
You seem to have this perverse fascination with not using the TDC as if it touched you at summer camp when you were little. Having a backup solution in your shirt pocket is certainly being a responsible commander. Even the technophobia simpler-means-less-errors philosophy is admirable. However to state that the TDC without ownship input does not give advantage over the simplistic vector mathmatics is wrong at best.
The PK "solution evolving" function is a significant feature and that is not denied, but hardly 100% of the value for the whole computer. If the PK engine only failed during a patrol, one would not be plunged into the Stone Age.
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By the way, the German TDC had the same automatic input for ownship course. Otherwise it could not calculate a gyro angle at all. After all, gyro angle is calculated from your heading. No heading info--no gyro angle. You cannot escape that requirement.
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I don't know if the German TDC had an ownship course data input stream or not, but I can say that it does not follow that such data is required to generate a gyro angle order solution. The torpedo shot solution is entirely a relative one and is not dependent at all on the directon to Santa Claus's house. The TDC can safely assume that ownship heading is 000°R.
Of course having a magnetic compass feed into the TDC can provide all sorts of nice luxuries like setting the AOB by target's true course (enjoying that with fleet boats and EasyAOB) or adjusting the relative bearings during turns of the submarine, but they are luxuries in the end.