Players were able to connect with other Silent Hunter II players, and engage in sub vs. Silent Hunter II was developed with multi-player support as a notable feature. German World War II veteran and sub commander Erich Topp was one of the game's technical advisers, and a series of interviews with him appears in the game. In addition to some separate single-player missions, they also come as a string in the theme of 'U-boat highlights', allowing the player to re-experience such well-known adventures as sinking HMS Avenger as U-155, retrieving the war diary from the German battleship Bismarck and Operation Drumbeat against American shipping. The game offers single-player and multiplayer missions. Silent Hunter II gives the player the command of a German U-boat during the Second Battle of the Atlantic.
