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Kapitänleutnant is the third lowest officer's rank in the German Navy[2]. The U.S. Navy's rank of lieutenant is equal to kapitänleutnant in NATO's military hierarchy (classed as OF-2)[3]. Nevertheless, a kapitänleutnant may command smaller ships (e.g. submarines class 206A) or serve as principal warfare officer on larger warships, giving the rank responsibilities more along those of a lieutenant commander in the U.S or Royal navies. The abbreviation of the title to "kaleu" (contemporary usage) is used officially in verbal communication; the commander of the Type VIIC U-boat U96 in the film Das Boot was of this rank, and called "Herr Kaleun" (historical usage) by his crew.

copied from wiki...:salute:

As written, the rank of the Kapitänleutnant (Lieutnant Commander or Captain Lieutnant) was shortened and they said mostly just "Kaleun". Another word for the Kaleun was "Der Alte" (The old one). Thats because the Kaleun was mostly the oldest on the ship and the crew on german Submarines in WW2 were around 18-20 years old.

thanks guys learn something everyday, like my wiki skills suck :oops:

In terms of rank he is not really a captain (or Kapitän in German), although he is the commander (Kommandant) of the boat. His rank is, in German, Kapitänleutnant - literally "lieutenant captain" or roughly equivalent to a Lieutenant Commander.

What you hear the crew call him in the movie is "Herr Kaleu" or "Herr Kaleun" - the common spoken abbreviation when addressing an officer of his rank.

I am watching this movie right now (the uncut version) and I have to wonder about this captain's tactics.

When a destroyer begins DCing his boat, he usually just orders it deeper and deeper, without any evasive maneuvers. In the game, I read that it's best to dive to at least 60 meters, and then zig zag around. When the ship is overhead, I throttle the engines to max while setting the rudder hard left or right, and then go silent again after several seconds (the theory is that he won't hear me once I'm in his rear quarter). In one scene, the captain set the engines to silent only after the destroyer had already lost them and turned away.

So, what's the deal here? Which tactics are closer to reality?

PS - I'm not done with the movie yet, so no spoilers please! :DL

Well the Movie is based on the Log book of the Captain of U-96. So they might be correct.

In my game (GWX Gold) the enemy ships find me even at 1kn and zig zag course and will depth charge me until my boat is destroyed. They never lose you and they hit you.

Not very realistic. I've read so many accounts where DD's had to work feverishly to reacquire, and often they were simply unable to. :ping:

The tactics in the movie are awful. You've already pointed out a couple of the bad ones. Another is that he doesn't even try to avoid the depth charges. Instead he waits until they're already exploding all around him, then gives the order to evade what's already happened. The idea of the movie is to make it easier for the average moviegoer to understand what's going on, and they did a magnificent job in that respect. Don't expect to find much historical or tactical value, just enjoy the drama and the beautifully recreated boat.

No it's not. It's based on a fictionalized account by a war correspondent who rode along on a couple of patrols. He heavily criticized the movie, but several u-boatmen also criticized his book. In the book he gave the boat a fictional ID (U-A), and they changed it back for the movie. It's first-person impressionism at its best. On the other hand the actual captain was a consultant, so they got a lot of the details right.

Thanks for the replies. I just finished the film now. The ending was a surprise, and although also not accurate apparently, it was very powerful, especially when the captain watches as....well, you know.

It's interesting that he keeps mentioning how the British destroyers turn up wherever he does, but finds patrol grids devoid of merchants. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't this pertain to period when the Brits first broke the German enigma code?

Fish, I'm actually pretty curious as to how DDs did acquire the target (ie. why pinging with asdic wasn't foolproof).

The movie is playing in the Year 1941 in which year the first Enigma was found. The period of time simply, that the Allied now protected their Merchantships with Destroyers as escort. So that the U-Boats were unable to attack these. And many got lost through attacks of the enemy.

...it is sugested somewhere that the writer of Das Boot, Lothar-Günther Buchheim wanted the film to be at least six hours long to properly establish the sence of tension and bordome - as he did not want a 'big hollywood' production made - a blockbuster action film which he felt was the outcome when it opened.
Wolfgang Petersons extended TV version of nearly five hours is said to be closer to what Bucheim originally wanted...

... but for me, its still too short!

I agree, there are still a few things missing from the book, and some important changes, which were probably necessary. That said, the changes are probably for the best. I still wish they'd explained the whole 'Johann-Franz' thing though. That was a highlight for me.

In the short version the snipped away so many things, where you learn all the persons and about their life. This is what gives you the "I'm part of the crew" feeling.

:yep: For some odd reason I found the Director's Cut boring, but the even longer version not boring. Go figure. :-?

english version is not worth watching
For best experience watch German version with subtitles
Either way in my country Croatia we prefer subtitles over dubbing...
only cartoons are dubbed in my country.
And i like it coz i like original!