roobarb:

 

gzt:

Ge0rge: And it's not as if there is deckloads of space on a submarine in order to pick up extra personnel.

That's a terrible excuse. International law requires assistance for wrecked crew after an engagement.

There are many cases in WW2 where this assistance was provided by submariners.

For example transporting only the severely wounded would have been easily possible.

 

In the film Das Boot there is the scene where the submarine successfully sinks a merchant ship, but the remainder of the convoy doesn't return to pick up the survivors. The German crew are wracked with guilt because they were unable to provide assistance for the drowning crew. The difference being that the German crew had a conscience, whereas Hegseth, good Christian that he is, chose to sink the ship because it was 'more fun'.

 

The real-life reason for the submarine crew leaving like that was the Laconia Incident. German U-boats transporting survivors while surfaced and displaying huge red cross flags were bombed and seriously damaged by the Americans forcing them to dive leaving everyone who hadn't been killed by the bombing to drown.