TM1.6 and finding things to sink

[mortis1967]

started a new career and and headed upto my mission in Luzon straight , and came across a task force. Made a mess of the force and headed back for a rearm encounterd another task force on the way home, avoided it and made it safe back to port.

that i think took me upto dec 11. Since then and its now jan 20th i havent encounted a single target. Ive been traveling the shipping lanes as pictured on the map and setting search patterns along those routes but havnt seen or heard a thing apart from planes, and radio traffic about islands being taken over.

so the question is . Is this how its supposed to be? am i missing something , are the shipping lanes on the map correct or is it just not worth bothering with them.

how regular should i be getting targets. and any tips on finding targets.(not really interested in sailing into enemy harbours to shoot sitting ducks)

any help or adivce in this area of the game would be most gratefull