By far the most difficult time I've ever had with DDs took place in a Single Mission, not in a campaign. IIRC it was the Battle of Samar, prior to contact with Taffy 3. We'd done some serious damage to Kurita's capital units but once the DDs closed it, all the fun was over. Despite holding station below 165 meters, they detected any movement at Ahead Slow and were all over us. Congressman May would have been impressed by their depth settings too. We took refuge directly under a stopped BB which did not discourage them at all. In fact, they attempted to lob in DCs whose descent arcs just missed the BB and angled down toward us.
Any attempt to escape was immediately crushed, even with speed set to only 1kt. With only one torpedo left, we couldn't use the tactic of blowing ballast to PD, going to flank, and letting stern tubes fly, so we waited, and waited, and waited. Going to high TC was almost deadly, as we drifted slightly away from the BB and nearly paid the price. It was only the return of Kurita's scattered, beaten remnants heading north in a hurry that at last pulled them away.
I've often wondered why the AI was so much more vicious in this scenario than in any career, even in other iterations of the same battle. It would be interesting going up against those guys on a repeated basis.
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