Yep. There were frequent actions similar to the photo via a forced to surface sub.


And the distance in the photo is much larger than the scraping paint side by side ala the movie trailer.


Though I believe there's mention of something along those lines in Blair's books, not by the subs choice of course.

It's just a movie Folks.
So like Spiderman and Star Wars?
It's just not real.
I'll watch it!
I enjoy movies that entertain me. Don't care if it's full of BS!
Part of the fun on this one will be pointing out the BS!
Which will totally annoy the Wife.
:up:

All those big, hard seaman-filled things bumbling around in the dark, trying to kill each other?

I think the Freud people will be into it too.

First ... this is a work of fiction based on a book of a fictional story published in 1955.

Yes, German U-boats were known for surface attacks inside convoys even with escorts. Günther Prien was killed and Otto Kretschmer was captured on one such occassion.

I'm already hating the whole praying man syndrome, "oh dear god please help me survive and be a good killer of men". Hollywood crap.

That being said, I know Hanks brings a good performance and I look forward to seeing his latest work of fiction.

I wish they would have made it where Hanks is a U-boat captain "The Tonnage King" Otto Kretschmer. Kretschmer was an excellent tactician and a good man. He went to university in England and was in shock after his capture that his countrymen had almost bombed out Buckingham Palace.

He had 16 patrols and 47 ships sunk making him the most successful of WW2. These are incredible numbers considering he was captured in 1941. He was not as keen on the Nazi party as some were but still got invited to a meeting of Hitler and the ambassador of Russia.

He was captured after his Uboat nearly collided with a destroyer in the dark and dived. The uboat was depth charged after then being picked up on ASDIC. To badly damaged in the attack she made 700 feet before regaining control enough to surface. Kretschmer scuttled the boat.

He was plucked from the sea by a British sailor who climbed down a rescue net to help him after Kretschmer, being to cold and weak, had try to make sure his men were taken care of first. His story I feel would be a wonderful telling.

In the mid-1990s he was interviewed for the computer simulation game Aces of the Deep, as one of several former U-boat skippers whose input was excerpted specially for the CD-Rom version of the game.

Actually that is exactly how Günther Prien and Otto Kretschmer lost their U Boats. U Boat commanders were not nearly as afraid of surface conflict as their allied counterparts. Granted, they would dive to avoid the escorts when needed but would often resurface to reengage the convoy. During night attacks it was much harder to find them on the surface than submerged where ASDIC could be used.

I will sure watch it, Hollywood or not. I would have thought though that certain stereotypes would have been overcome meanwhile.. "Good luck surviving the day..."? Please.

Fwiw, from what I've learned over time, Kretschmer lost his boat when an officer ordered a dive when in Kretschmer's mind, he shouldn't have, allowing them to get picked up via asdic. Kretschmer believing the escort wouldn't have seen them if they'd stayed surfaced, and he could have slipped away into the night. As it turned out, he was right; the British ship "Walker" had not seen U-99.

Kretschmer never forgave said officer for that order.

Numerous theories on Prien's loss since it's not 100% known. Kretschmer states on the AOD cd I believe, his opinion that one of Prien's own torpedoes sunk him. But no one knows for sure what happened. But it wasn't on the surface.

There's an entire section about his loss in Blair's books (along with some of the above Kretschmer info.) in which a depth charge attack by two escorts near his position (boat was never seen) is given credit by the British but never confirmed, along with various other theories including again his own torpedo.


Regardless, engaging a convoy in a "surface conflict" is one thing. Choosing to be right beside an escort having a gun duel with it is another.

Side note regarding Hanks, he does one of his better roles portraying Walt Disney in "Saving Mr. Banks", the story of how the story of Mary Poppins came about.

Subnuts, " Pretty sure I never read about that part of the Battle of the Atlantic where U-boats with goofy conning tower emblems were doing Age-of-Sail style drive-bys on American destroyers which massively outgunned them." Next thing you know, a mafia hitman will take out the captain with a Rail Gun. Lol. And also, where the hell is the German crew?? Casper took them.

After having seen this movie clip I'm absolutely going to see it, when it comes out on blu-ray or on one of my movie channels.

Markus

That is correct. Kretschmer had a standing order to "not" submerge knowing that upon an escort sighting they might not have been seen away so they then could use their surface speed to gain a better position or escape.

Playing the game I do the same thing all the time. With Operation Monsun running inside a convoy surfaced was a lot of fun. I have been playing the latest version of Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate on the allied side and that is way way harder to do.

The enemy below, this was a great novel by Denys Rayner, I remember to read it maybe two or three times a year when I was a teen (in the 70s, no PC nor PS4 on this years), the film was ... just a Hollywood thing, you get used to that.

Anyway I will watch to Tom Hanks and his new film on IMAX and enjoy the film as usual.

Re: "drive-by"

Just speculation on my part, but in other shots we can see U-Boat surfacing in front of the destroyer, and in other, a destroyer narrowly avoiding "down the throat" torpedo shot. In the movie it could go like this - badly damaged in DC attack, U-boat can't keep submerged anymore and blows ballast just as destroyer returns for another attack. This gives U-boat opportunity for last ditch attempt at torpedoing the DD, which fails (but succeeds in providing audience with edge-of-the-seat thrill in the final battle) and then DD just continues forward passing extremely close to now helpless U-boat while ravaging it with artillery.

I was thinking that too; hard to actually tell what the actual scene is with all the stupid millisecond sound/video bites.

But with all the rest of the blatant Hollywood/Ramboism of the trailer, odds are against the scene making sense. <g>

Ok, I guess I misunderstood your earlier post seeming to state Kretschmer and Prien's boats were lost via surface duels similar to the one in the trailer clip.

Yep! That is my attitude. The trailer makes me feel like, although there are cliches and it won't be perfect (and, yes, it's the 'Murican point of view again!!!) it will be a watchable movie - fun, and dealing with a subject I like.

I don't believe Hollywood could make another "Das Boot" or its equivalent today; accurate submarine movies are kind of a niche market. The pacing and character-heavy style of "Das Boot" is not likely to appeal to most people.

And then there's the political issue. It's hard to imagine a modern, mass-market American Hollywood movie that would portray any WWII German protagonist positively. Aside from exceptions (like Tom Cruise in "Valkyrie" as the anti-Hitler von Stauffenberg).

That's a shame to me; I agree that a balanced, historical Hollywood film about Kretschmer/Prien etc would be interesting. German film makers have proven with recent series (Generation War, etc) that it's possible to take a nuanced approach .... to humanize Germans who fought during WWII and, at the same time, point out that Nazism was evil and had to be defeated.

Perhaps a modern U-Boat film maker could solve the pacing issue by covering the sinking of Royal Oak, several convoy battles, etc instead of one patrol like Das Boot.... thus, plenty of drama/pyro stuff, and plenty of historical material.
Ah well, food for thought.

I'd like to see the British side of a "Das Boot" type movie made; instead of a German sub, a British escort around the same time frame or in the spring of '41 instead.

But it'd probably have to be a British production; Hollywood would Ramboize it to much.

Already been done:
 

https://youtu.be/joUDAD3GB3g


No CGi back then, they just used the ships.


Excuse the Brit sub masquerading as a U-boat.


Dated but still worth watching.

Good idea, John. I would like to see a remake of "The Cruel Sea". For those who don't know, it's a novel about a Flower Class corvette crew, from 1939 - 1945. It was an excellent book and I heard the 1953 movie was good, although I've never seen it.

A modern version with good special effects (but not excessive Michael Bay crazy stuff) would be nice. A movie faithful to the book would be too long, but a 2 hour film could include all the best action-packed chapters. The book has submarine, Luftwaffe, and German Destroyer attacks, which would be a nice variety of combat scenes to keep the audience excited. Plus, there's a good romance in the novel, and if they cast a "cute" young male actor as the love interest, that would help keep both men and women interested.

EDIT: lol!! Timely post!

Yes, "The Cruel Sea" is a great book. Didn't realize it had been made into a movie at one time.


Not on the sea, but "A Piece of Cake" is a good read set during the Blitz.