[gambla]

L.G. Buchheim's "Das Boot" is called a novel, but he said, that everything written, is his own true experience gathered on different boats. When they lost the boat at Gibraltar, the boat is said to hit ground on 280 m. I believe it's true, as nothing was so important for him as to make the movie as realistic as possible. And by the way, i recently have read an article by him about making the movie. He wasn't very happy with many things.