Convoy kills - do you confirm them?

[Crimguy]

Yeah, but it seems that most skippers ended up with inflated stats for ships that appeared as though they were going down, but in fact made it to port. So my guess is that the skipper's confirmation was little more than a cursory examination. "Man, that tanker looks like a blow torch. NO way they're surviving that."

I finally (after 2 years!) finished Part I in Blair's series, and as a guess, out of every patrol, at least one of the ships thought sunk in fact did not go down.

Originally Posted by MarkShot

I suppose this should be a poll, but I've never made one before. So, for convoy attacks do you:

(1) Confirm kill - see the torpedo strike from the scope or bridge?

(2) Confirm kill - see the target sink?

(3) Confirm kill - simulate surfacing later and examining the debris field?

(4) Disengage/evade - immediately after the last tube is empty?

I ask, because conventional wisdom in these games has been that #4 lead to the greatest chance of survival. However, from the few sub documentaries/books I have read, confirming kills was important and done.

Thanks.

PS: It would be a first for a sub game to actually require confirming sinkings before crediting them.

[Canovaro]

I start diving even before I fire.

[GoldenRivet]

i will observe all initial hits... sinking sounds and massive secondaries on the hydrophone in the general direction of a confirmed hit are enough for me. can sometimes hear the target strike the ocean floor in shallow enough water. 300M or less round about

[Sailor Steve]

I'm the same as BBW. If I'm attacking a convoy and some ships don't sink, I then have a record of my claimed tonnage versus my actual tonnage, as determined by OKM. It makes it nice when I can pretend that it actually happened that way.

[Carotio]

Depends on the situation, but mostly staying at periscope depth untill detected.

If detected, but destroyers far away enough, and torpedos left to fire, then waiting to get them out before diving.

If detected with destroyers close by, then crash dive, with a course set to dive below a merchant if possible, then silent running in a general opposite direction of convoy course. Works 9 out of 10 times...