[merc4ulfate]

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.