Realistic sinking times, how long can they be?

[GoDeep]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

i think a large part of the problem too is some folks are used to stock and they want to just sail around plopping torpedoes into everything and sinking all with one shot and having them sink with massive explosions and split in half nearly every time...

I'm not one of those folks. I don't feel that everything I hit has to go down neatly, with lots of pyrotechnical extravaganza in a matter of minutes. If I were, I wouldn't be downloading mods like GWX or even playing a U-Boat simulation. I'd probably be playing something with instant gratification like a FPS or a combat flight sim (not that they aren't complex, but the action is a lot faster).
Instead, I am playing a U-Boat simulation and I have added GWX because I want more realism. As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the war in the Atlantic and in particular the U-Boat as a weapon of war. There's something so sinister about a submarine lurking in the depths, stalking its victim... I find that very fascinating.

I was simply wondering if it was very realistic for a small ship to be able to survive a torpedo impact so well, because torpedos are powerful weapons and merchants weren't and aren't designed to take that kind of firepower. On the other hand, I have been reading the responses above and I think there's lots of solid reasons (except perhaps the ping-pong balls...:hmm offered why this might happen, despite it being frustrating. I'm sure in real life the crews on board the U-Boats were very frustrated a lot of the time, due to bad weather, poor visibility, dud torpedos, etc. So I am fine with ships not sinking even if I hit them. I'm also playing with duds because the real crews had duds. Just wondering about the realism, that's all.

Something which has occured to me, is that a small ship might actually be able to withstand a torpedo impact better, if you don't hit it in a critcal area or don't cause critical damage. Maybe the much bigger ships, because of their bulk and mass, tend to suffer more by flooding, because it adds stress to their structure, which has already been weakened by the blast, especially in rough seas. A smaller ship has less mass, so can cope with this added stress better. Does that make sense?

And of course I realize that the crew of any vessel you hit, will do their utmost to stay afloat.

Thanks everyone for their insight, appreciate it.