What happens if you sink a resupply vessel?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

if you have the "Large Tanker" populate the list with 500 large tankers with unique names like "SS Eastern Star" or "SS Laguna" etc etc. when the ship is sunk, it is removed from the roster file never to spawn again.

That's exactly the way Commander's 'Ship Names' function works. If you sink a merchant and are given a name, that name won't show up again unless you manage to depopulate that entire type. Then it resets, because if it didn't you wouldn't get any more names.

The reason the major warships repopulate every time is because if, as you say, someone plays arcade style and sinks a battleship every week, there won't be any British battleships left by the start of 1941.

It is my understanding that SH5 is supposed to do just that. If you sink the Hood it will be replaced by a different ship for the Bismarck hunt.