Merchants vs Warships

[Gargamel]

DesirableRoasted made a comment in another thread (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...4&postcount=19) that I think deserves it's own thread, as it would derail the original topic, and by god, we don't go OT here at Subsim.

I always wonder why people use high speeds (my temptation is to go slower, but that's just as inefficient). And shoot at destroyers (the two seem to go hand in hand).

Your job is to sink as much merchant tonnage as possible with the ammunition you are given. So it should be a given you do that as efficiently as possible. Don't waste torpedoes and shells on warships.

Yes, I agree our primary mission is the sinking of merchant shipping in hopes of blockading the British Isles.

But is it really a waste to attack a warship or two when that will allow us to sink more merchant shipping? If we find a weakly escorted convoy, or during a harbor raid, we sink the lone ASW craft, allowing us free reign of the docked merchants.

Ie, from a patrol I did early in the war:

17.9.39.
1039 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! HMS Brazen (A&B classes), 1350 tons. Crew: 190. Crew lost: 1
1059 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! HMS Resolution (Revenge class), 31000 tons. Crew: 1199. Crew lost: 11
1107 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! MV Teakwood (Modern Tanker), 7292 tons. Cargo: Crude Oil. Crew: 51. Crew lost: 38
1109 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS Ole Wegger (Whale Factory Ship), 12017 tons. Cargo: Aviation Fuel. Crew: 126. Crew lost: 5
1110 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS N. T. Nielsen-Alonso (Whale Factory Ship), 12016 tons. Cargo: Aviation Fuel. Crew: 131. Crew lost: 128
1122 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS Port Auckland (Ore Carrier), 8085 tons. Cargo: Bauxite. Crew: 86. Crew lost: 15
1127 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS Manaar (Large Merchant), 5459 tons. Cargo: Machinery. Crew: 107. Crew lost: 39
1132 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS Ixion (Ore Carrier), 8083 tons. Cargo: Iron Ore. Crew: 86. Crew lost: 67
1142 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS Talthybius (Ore Carrier), 8084 tons. Cargo: Coal. Crew: 96. Crew lost: 82
1218 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS Raranga (Large Merchant), 5460 tons. Cargo: Machinery. Crew: 98. Crew lost: 24
1242 Grid BE 64 Ship sunk! SS Krasnoe Znamya (Tramp Steamer), 2432 tons. Cargo: Coal. Crew: 22. Crew lost: 0

If I had left the lone DD alone, then at best I would have gotten a shot at the Battleship, or maybe the two whale ships. But by taking out the escorts first, I could decimate the convoy.

Opinions? And I'm talking both historically, and game wise, which we know are two separate realities.