Is there a way not to start every battle crusing at 20 knots in the campaign even though I am not moving on the map, and especially waiting to ambush a target?

This is annoying as it causes every opening situation to be something like this: Battle starts, I hit shift S right away, but every russian sub has already fired a torpedo at me.

And why can't my sonarman get me a better that 40% firing solution much less get a decent position on russian subs that are hammering away with active sonar?

Oh and as a side note if the designers read this it would be nice in the intial battle summery screen if your XO would mention depth the ocean floor is.

Note the right mouse click on tactical map and left mouse click on tactical map decide the speed you move with, which in turn decides the speed you enter the battle with (and depth).

Also targeting solution improves with time provided you have identified the target properly through sonar identification. It is also dependent on distance from your target.

Also are you playing on Elite? I played 1968 campaign and 1984 campaign on Normal and only couple of times was I detected by enemy right away (Typhoon sub on the last mission in 1984). If you are playing on Elite - well...