Did this ever happen? (RSRD)

[Bubblehead1980]

Watched a video on youtube and youtube suggested Run Silent Run Deep. I have the movie, a digital copy, and dvd actually lol but when movie is right there for free, I am transiting to patrol area Corn Field off Palau from Pearl, so long voyage, I figured why not.

(link to movie)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqjIzyylcoA


Anyways about the 26:00 mark, crew member is on deck dumping trash just as dive alarm sounds during drill. Naturally, he hurriedly scurries up to the bridge to get below but hatch shuts and crew member is locked out as boat submerged furiously pounding on the hatch, but is forced to climb into the lookout nest on the periscope shears, which are partially submerged before boat stops diving and surfaces, thanks to alert XO (Lancaster), who heard the knocking.


Just wondering if , like many things that are incorporated into the sub movies, this really happened?


I know of the BARB, Ensign Teeters was left on the bridge in November 1944 off Sasebo, he knocked and uttered "Hey! Let me in!" lol. However, that was not nearly as close of a call as in the movie.

I know some of of the men lost during war, simply disappeared after surfacing, fell overboard etc. but again, wondering if any incidents happened as portrayed in the movie. I am not aware of any, but even with in depth research have conducted, plenty of stories am not aware of I am sure, perhaps others are.

Thanks in advance

[KaleunMarco]

Watched a video on youtube and youtube suggested Run Silent Run Deep. I have the movie, a digital copy, and dvd actually lol but when movie is right there for free, I am transiting to patrol area Corn Field off Palau from Pearl, so long voyage, I figured why not.

Anyways about the 26:00 mark, crew member is on deck dumping trash just as dive alarm sounds during drill. Naturally, he hurriedly scurries up to the bridge to get below but hatch shuts and crew member is locked out as boat submerged furiously pounding on the hatch, but is forced to climb into the lookout nest on the periscope shears, which are partially submerged before boat stops diving and surfaces, thanks to alert XO (Lancaster), who heard the knocking.


Just wondering if , like many things that are incorporated into the sub movies, this really happened?


I know of the BARB, Ensign Teeters was left on the bridge in November 1944 off Sasebo, he knocked and uttered "Hey! Let me in!" lol. However, that was not nearly as close of a call as in the movie.

I know some of of the men lost during war, simply disappeared after surfacing, fell overboard etc. but again, wondering if any incidents happened as portrayed in the movie. I am not aware of any, but even with in depth research have conducted, plenty of stories am not aware of I am sure, perhaps others are.

Thanks in advance

that scene was scripted for dramatic purposes in order to promote the conflict between the two main characters in the screenplay.

the conflict in the book was of a totally different nature. in the book the two characters were in conflict over the competency of the junior officer to command at sea. in the movie the conflict was about the alleged theft of command of a boat headed out on patrol.

in all of the stories i heard, before, during, and after my naval service, none of them included a mess steward almost lost while dumping trash just prior to a diving drill.

[Mad Mardigan]

Interesting tid bit...

The sub that was used to rep the USS Nerka (SS-380 which was a Balao class, that was authorized during World War II, but cancelled on 29 July 1944.) was the:

USS Redfish (SS-395)

which was used for most of the exterior shots, in the movie.

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.

[Bubblehead1980]

that scene was scripted for dramatic purposes in order to promote the conflict between the two main characters in the screenplay.

the conflict in the book was of a totally different nature. in the book the two characters were in conflict over the competency of the junior officer to command at sea. in the movie the conflict was about the alleged theft of command of a boat headed out on patrol.

in all of the stories i heard, before, during, and after my naval service, none of them included a mess steward almost lost while dumping trash just prior to a diving drill.


Thanks for the info. I have not heard of this either in real life, figured it was added for the movie. I mean it could have happened, but not that am aware of it. Guess closest was the Barb incident I mentioned "Hey! Let me in!" and well, the poor souls who went top side but disappeared when went submerged.

[Bubblehead1980]

Interesting tid bit...

The sub that was used to rep the USS Nerka (SS-380 which was a Balao class, that was authorized during World War II, but cancelled on 29 July 1944.) was the:

USS Redfish (SS-395)

which was used for most of the exterior shots, in the movie.

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.


Yes that was interesting, noticed it when looking up info on Balao Class one time, saw Nerka was a canceled boat.

Do you know if they used the Redish for interior shots as well? If not, most realistic interior set of a WW II sub movie. Some of the other movies, can clearly set it was not built to spec but was a movie set lol.

[KaleunMarco]

Yes that was interesting, noticed it when looking up info on Balao Class one time, saw Nerka was a canceled boat.

Do you know if they used the Redish for interior shots as well? If not, most realistic interior set of a WW II sub movie. Some of the other movies, can clearly set it was not built to spec but was a movie set lol.

yes, well, here's the thing.
shooting a movie has certain requirements/constraints, such as a stable camera and lighting and sound. there are more requirements/constraints, but let's leave at this.
the interior of a submarine is cramped, is completely metal, and not well lit.
so...if one wants to make a movie and include interior shots of a submarine, their best bet for success is to build an accurate replica-set with: camera space, better sound environment and lighting appropriate for motion picture distribution.
otherwise, it looks like a home movie, shot by you or me in our living room....which is fine for home movies but not so fine for a motion picture.

:03::Kaleun_Salute:

[Bubblehead1980]

yes, well, here's the thing.
shooting a movie has certain requirements/constraints, such as a stable camera and lighting and sound. there are more requirements/constraints, but let's leave at this.
the interior of a submarine is cramped, is completely metal, and not well lit.
so...if one wants to make a movie and include interior shots of a submarine, their best bet for success is to build an accurate replica-set with: camera space, better sound environment and lighting appropriate for motion picture distribution.
otherwise, it looks like a home movie, shot by you or me in our living room....which is fine for home movies but not so fine for a motion picture.

:03::Kaleun_Salute:


I get that, but you can tell who in production design bothered to do research and make a accurate set vs. just throwing something together. Examples of getting it right....Run Silent Run Deep, Das Boot. Even the horrible and I mean horrible "USS Seaviper", at least the monstrosity was actually shot aboard Drum SS -228 in Mobie, AL. If they had a decent story, would have been okay. lol

[Mad Mardigan]

Craziness of what KM said there... is with the movie... Hunt for Red October... that was a set, but... the crew did great, in My opinion of making it feel like they were actually in a 'Typhoon' class sub.

The whole set up was on a gimble rig, so that all the diving, turning motions.... were able to be accurately shown... no having the actors leaning to imitate motions... well, they still had to, to compensate for the gimble... but... it looked loads better than them having to act as though the sub was in motion.

Knowing that those subs from WW2 were cramped as all get out... was a credit to the set designers that they got it done nicely... but if not, then the cam crew, did a good job of shooting.... is all I can say. That comment about the cramped conditions, is what I know, having been on the "Drum" there, in Mobile.

Of course, that's a Gato class boat & no idea if a Balao is bigger inside or not.

As memory serves... the ''Stingray'', in Down Periscope, was a Balao class. Thinking on it... having watched Run silent, run deep... the quarters, looked a bit... more snug, than what I recall inside the... Stingray. :hmmm:

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.

[KaleunMarco]

Of course, that's a Gato class boat & no idea if a Balao is bigger inside or not.


Gato's and Balao's were virtually identical in dimensions and displacement.
as expected, the Balao's carried some improvements from wartime experience as that was the first boat designed and implemented during the war. oddly enough, improvement in "electronics" in this era meant that the new equipment needed MORE room than its predecessor which in some cases did not exist. so "improvement" meant less room for the crew.

the Gato's were designed before the war and Tench's were an evolution of the Gato-Balao line but did not have the same implementation numbers as the two older siblings.

the single greatest(?) difference between the two classes (Gato-Balao) was the upgrade in steel used in the pressure hull that allowed the Balao to survive at deeper depths than the Gato. there was a glitch in the pump design that limited the Balao depth to something less than what the hull could sustain but Balao's were able to dive deeper and safer than its younger sibling.

Tench's were also virtually identical to both earlier classes in both dimensions and displacement. the difference in the Tench was a redesigned ballast tank system which in turn provided room for more ammo in the forward torpedo room. of course, by the time these boats were patrolling the Japanese home waters, there were very few merchies on which to use the extra torpedoes.

[propbeanie]

What cracks me up about that pump KM, was that it was felt that it could not generate enough force to pump water when deep, and would fail at roughly 550-600 foot depth, so the max "safe" dive was set at 400 foot. The hull itself was most likely good to 700+ foot. The noise of the pump when deep was one consideration, but when you think about it, an electric pump motor's impeller, sitting in a sump of sea water, will deteriorate over a short period of time, and you can understand their reasoning... lol - I have had many a basement sump pump fail at the most inopportune time, such as when it is raining cats & dogs and water standing everywhere outside... "Honey - we need to get everything up off the basement floor NOW!" "But it's 2am!" :o :har: - now imagine that in the middle of a depthcharge attack, and you most likely are never going to be able to surface...

One other improvement on the Balao was the drive - quieter than the Gato, but I don't remember exactly why... I'm sure someone will pipe-in about that. :salute:

[Mad Mardigan]

Gato's and Balao's were virtually identical in dimensions and displacement.
as expected, the Balao's carried some improvements from wartime experience as that was the first boat designed and implemented during the war. oddly enough, improvement in "electronics" in this era meant that the new equipment needed MORE room than its predecessor which in some cases did not exist. so "improvement" meant less room for the crew.

the Gato's were designed before the war and Tench's were an evolution of the Gato-Balao line but did not have the same implementation numbers as the two older siblings.

the single greatest(?) difference between the two classes (Gato-Balao) was the upgrade in steel used in the pressure hull that allowed the Balao to survive at deeper depths than the Gato. there was a glitch in the pump design that limited the Balao depth to something less than what the hull could sustain but Balao's were able to dive deeper and safer than its younger sibling.

Tench's were also virtually identical to both earlier classes in both dimensions and displacement. the difference in the Tench was a redesigned ballast tank system which in turn provided room for more ammo in the forward torpedo room. of course, by the time these boats were patrolling the Japanese home waters, there were very few merchies on which to use the extra torpedoes.

Thanks for that... knew the Gato/Balao lineage... just... I've been in a Gato on more than a few occasions. Just never inside a Balao, so... had no backstop frame to reference from...

Yeah, by the time they got to the Tench's... just about literally all of IJN's surface fleet... (warship & merchi alike) was pretty much annihilated. :hmmm:

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.

[Bubblehead1980]

Craziness of what KM said there... is with the movie... Hunt for Red October... that was a set, but... the crew did great, in My opinion of making it feel like they were actually in a 'Typhoon' class sub.

The whole set up was on a gimble rig, so that all the diving, turning motions.... were able to be accurately shown... no having the actors leaning to imitate motions... well, they still had to, to compensate for the gimble... but... it looked loads better than them having to act as though the sub was in motion.

Knowing that those subs from WW2 were cramped as all get out... was a credit to the set designers that they got it done nicely... but if not, then the cam crew, did a good job of shooting.... is all I can say. That comment about the cramped conditions, is what I know, having been on the "Drum" there, in Mobile.

Of course, that's a Gato class boat & no idea if a Balao is bigger inside or not.

As memory serves... the ''Stingray'', in Down Periscope, was a Balao class. Thinking on it... having watched Run silent, run deep... the quarters, looked a bit... more snug, than what I recall inside the... Stingray. :hmmm:

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.



As KM stated, Gato/Balao/Tench are near identical interior. The Gato's I've been on, with Drum being the earliest Gato (was even built before the actual Gato lol) the ladder in control room to the conning tower is situated between the plainsmen facing port, in Balao the ladders are like they are in the game. Basically, UBI gave us a Balao control room and conning tower to use on Gato, Tambor, Gar lol, cheapskates. For immersion, I have a optional mod to enable when using Gato, Tambor, Gar that puts ladder in correct place, One thing will note is depending on which yard boat was built at, some have small differences internally etc. One reason people had to qualify in each specific boat, even if previously qualified on boat of same class was to learn the small "quirks" and differences of each boat. Kind of shocked me they permitted such variations, the Navy but supposed war time mass production and all had to make allowances.


USS Pampanito (Balao) which is in San Francisco, was used in the filimg of Down Periscope. I've been aboard her, one of the better preserved subs out there, when I visited anyways, assume still that way. Some of the shots appear in the actual interior, such as the torpedo room, galley, captains cabin, but the control room definitely was not lol, that was a set constructed to tell the story, it was far too large, had things not actually in the control room etc.

Kind of cool, to shoot the scenes of the 'Stingray' underway, they towed the Pampanito out of her berth, painted as the Stingray, made for some great shots.

[Bubblehead1980]

What cracks me up about that pump KM, was that it was felt that it could not generate enough force to pump water when deep, and would fail at roughly 550-600 foot depth, so the max "safe" dive was set at 400 foot. The hull itself was most likely good to 700+ foot. The noise of the pump when deep was one consideration, but when you think about it, an electric pump motor's impeller, sitting in a sump of sea water, will deteriorate over a short period of time, and you can understand their reasoning... lol - I have had many a basement sump pump fail at the most inopportune time, such as when it is raining cats & dogs and water standing everywhere outside... "Honey - we need to get everything up off the basement floor NOW!" "But it's 2am!" :o :har: - now imagine that in the middle of a depthcharge attack, and you most likely are never going to be able to surface...

One other improvement on the Balao was the drive - quieter than the Gato, but I don't remember exactly why... I'm sure someone will pipe-in about that. :salute:


If I recall, in "CLEAR THE BRIDGE!" Okay talks about the noisy pump when they are below 600 ft, it kept giving the Asashio DD above them assistance in tracking them.

Off the top of my head, some Balao's were quieter since they had newer low speed double armature motors that directly drove the shafts, but these were not universal until the Tench Class. I'd have to look into it to give which boats had them but am guessing the earlier Balaos did not.

[Mad Mardigan]

If am recalling it rightly... that Segal movie... Under Siege, was shot there in Mobile... on board, both the Alabama (BB-60) & the Drum (SS-228)

That... was something to behold. Was there, in Mobile, at the time they were doing shooting.

Think there was 1 other movie that Segal was in, that was also shot there in Mobile... well... some parts of it... at any rate. Just can't recall what the name of that 1 was, though... :oops:

But... definitively do remember when they were there, shooting the scenes that took place on board both the BB & the sub, though. :yep:

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.