even more newbie questions! :P

[andylegate]

One thing that you could try, and I've found that it works generally well (note I said generally well, not all the time). Since you're at 8000 meters (8 km) these will be long shots.

You can go to persiscope depth and go to All Stop. Either use your hydrophones or allow your sonar operator to do this. note the sonar contact bearing of the stationary ships. You can then compare them to what you see in your scope and they should pretty much match up.

Now, hit F6 and go to your TDC. Click on the little switch that says I/O so that the Bearing, AOB, Distance dials light up. Set the depth of your torpedos for about 3 meters. Set the speed to slow (this will increase the range of your torpeados), if you are using historical torpeados (meaning you get duds) set your pistol for impact. If you're not using historical torpeados, leave them on Magnetic.

Since it appears the ships you want to sink are anchored, you won't have to worry about setting up a "Real" fire control solution (IE sending the torp where the target should be later in time, as your target is stationary, you can send it right to the target).
Set the Distance dial to maximum (no sense in setting it to 8000 meters, only to find out that the target is really at 8060!).
Then use the Bearing and AOB dials to move the fire bearing indicator to lay right on top of the sonar bearing line (or as close as possible to it!). Be aware that if the sonar lines are still moving slightly, it is because your u-boat is still drifting from your last speed. Just wait a little bit.

Once you have the solution set up like that, open your torpedo doors and fire. Go through the other sonar bearing lines and do the same thing. Hopefully, by the time you're done shooting your last torp, you're crew as realoaded your other torps. Go through and do the same thing (as in GWX one shot kills can be rare).

This worked for me at Scapaflow when the fog was so thick, I could not use my periscope. Of course my distance was a LOT shorter than yours. So it's IMPORTANT that you get the fire control solution as close to the sonar bearing line as possible. A single degree off can make the torp miss by hundreds of meters if it has to go nearly 4 miles!!!!

Remember: Always save your sim just before you do this, in case you're not happy with the results, or something goes terribly wrong. That's a nice luxury that we have that the real commanders didn't have.