Flooding equals death

[Nangleator]

Died just now, my 12th patrol in my fat pig of a IX boat. The very first detection of my boat in all those patrols results in my death.

I've probably completed over fifty patrols now, and never once survived once I get damage to anything but the guns and the conning tower.

This time, a single destroyer separated from the convoy I was hitting. I had no trouble seeing me, or knowing my depth. The first cans passed within a few meters of my hull before blowing up under me.

When it got bad, I headed for periscope depth and readied my eels. Before I got to PD, the flooding caused me to start sinking again. So I blew ballast. Once I got a visual on him, my eels were away. (I don't do manual calculations.) I bobbed to the surface and took a few more hits from his guns before I blew him out of the water.

All this time, my damage crew (three damage-rated PO's, a damage-rated officer and about six sailors) was working on the most damaged compartment. Well, I had about fifteen seconds of peace while I waited for the damage crew to make some progress.

*Blink*

Mission ended. 44 dead.

So tell me. Is there any point in qualifying anyone for damage control?