Orca
You're right - I believe we're agreeing furiously! Ships are only easy to sink if you can target them, ID them and then get through the defences. That's a lot of ifs......
Identifying a surface contact (particularly with EMCON) is by far the hardest part if the ship / force is clever. However, once found, ID'd and fixed it's a simple matter of effort applied. Plan Hammerhead or equivalent would tend to bring matters to a head more quickly, but the same effect can be achieved by a relatively small series of attacks sustained over a long period until silos/mags are exhausted - particularly if the maritime force can't see OTH or is unable to whittle down the oppo.