Things I learned from watching U-571

[Subnuts]

Originally Posted by The Noob

Now this is Already at the Subsim Start Page...

I can't get why anyone Hates U-571.
It'a MOVIE Goddamnit! Not a Documenation or Such.

Because even movies suck sometimes.

[fredbass]

I skipped through most of the posts in this thread.

I've seen Pearl Harbor and U571 and both were good and entertaining movies, realism aside of course.

[FAdmiral]

The only explanation I could logically think of (sighting would have been useless)
was MAYBE in the sound detection on the American boat. U-571 was dead in
the water and the S-boat was too. BUT, as the S-Boat approached U-571,
its diesels MAY have had a different sound signature than U-Boats. Of course,
it's all speculation and they just made the movie for action shots rather than to
simulate any kind of historical accuracy....


JIM

[Dekessey]

U-571 entertaining?

True, it was an excellent comedy!

[Ducimus]

I still want to know how they planned to lure that german destroyer into allied aircover and call in an airstrike!

[Subnuts]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

I still want to know how they planned to lure that german destroyer into allied aircover and call in an airstrike!

I'm more interested in knowing how a lone destroyer made it halfway across the Atlantic in such beautiful weather, and where that reconnaissance plane came from. If it hadn't been attacked and sunk on the way out, why would it be any different on the way back?

[longdog499]

In the great scheme of things I don't suppose I've achieved much in my life but I AM proud of the fact that I only watched 5 minutes of that movie before I thought 'This is bull****!' and promptly binned it.

[Snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by Subnuts

* A 200-foot long stationary object is untouchable at 150 yards.
* A German supply submarine is a regular U-boat with an extra 20mm AA gun.
* A leaky 25-year old submarine is a prestigious command.
* A ship struck in the bow will explode deck-first in an enormous fireball.
* A torpedo can travel 400 yards in ten seconds
* A vessel that requires 45 men to operate efficiently can be operated with only six men (four of whom are on the bridge). These six men can also repair the vessel to working order in a few hours.
* American aircraft have convenient 10-foot tall "US NAVY" markings. On the TOP of the wings.
* Atlantic storms are usually accompanied by a mild rain shower.
* Being shot a dozen times at close range is a relatively clean affair.
* Black men weren't just 'token' in the '40s.
* British and German destroyers could drop about 60 depth charges at a time.
* Confusion will not take over when the captain orders a dive, but signals to surface on the diving alarm.
* Depth charges can crack your spine and knock your teeth out, but can't damage a submarine two feet away.
* Destroyers always appear out of nowhere.
* Destroyers usually take on the appearance of a large ocean-going tug.
* Diesel engines can be turned on 20 meters under water.
* Diesel fuel explodes in enormous fireballs.
* Each U-boat crewman was issued an MP-40.
* Everybody smoked in the 40s, but nobody actually inhaled.
* Fighter-sized patrol planes could operate in the mid-Atlantic.
* German destroyers regularly appeared in the North Atlantic in mid-1942.
* German U-boats had cozy lounges with leather sofas and expensive tables.
* It's okay to spray gunfire around in a cramped metal tube.
* It's possible to locate the exact location a crippled sub based on it's radio signals, which you can not decrypt.
* Mechanics hang out in one spot while being depth charged.
* Red light is all-encompassing.
* Submarine-mounted deck guns had laser-like accuracy.
* Submariners completely unadapted to a new submarine type adjust in about 45 seconds.
* Submarines in WWII routinely engaged in underwater dogfights.
* Submarines remain on the surface even after a crash dive has been ordered.
* The best way to attack an unescorted merchant at night is submerged, using the search periscope.
* The control panels on a German submarine are "all in German!"
* The electrician berserker squad was the most lethal German fighting force at the time.
* The French resistance could obtain extremely high-quality photographs, but could not obtain the subject of said photographs.
* The handle that activates the stern torpedo tube is located in the bilge.
* Torpedo tube inner doors (and the torpedoes within) can survive the water pressure at 700 feet.
* Torpedoes have 10,000-pound warheads.
* U-boat crewmen were never cross-trained to operate diesel engines.
* U-boats machine gunned survivors in lifeboats "every now and then".
* You can't hold your breath for six minutes straight.
* You should Wave your hands heroically while drowning instead of shouting "throw me a f**king rope!"

Now Now... I admit... the movie is full of crap but it was intended to be a more modern look at the classic WWII sub movies of yor. Those old ones were REALLY far-fetched yet I bet I would catch you guys watching them if you had nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon with the game rained out.

[dark_wolf]

Originally Posted by Dekessey

U-571 entertaining?

True, it was an excellent comedy!

Well...at least we saw the death of Bon Jovi.
That's reason enough to see this movie

[fred8615]

Originally Posted by dark_wolf

Well...at least we saw the death of Bon Jovi.

Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure he survives.

[79TransAm]

Originally Posted by fred8615

Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure he survives.

That and Bon Jovi is god

[P_Funk]

Originally Posted by Snakeeyes

Now Now... I admit... the movie is full of crap but it was intended to be a more modern look at the classic WWII sub movies of yor. Those old ones were REALLY far-fetched yet I bet I would catch you guys watching them if you had nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon with the game rained out.

True. I'd probably be yelling "Yawol, ya bilge spewing redneck. If Jurgen Prochnow were here he probably laugh bitterly and go have a smoke with the WO"

[kholemann]

My wife got me the DVD of that movie cuz she knows I like that part of history. I watched it and almost vomited. I couldn't really say anything to her. I am confident that if I didn't know so much about the history of naval warfare in WWII that I would have really enjoyed the movie. So much is wrong with it, even fictionalized, I just couldn't ever watch it again unless inebreated. The most mind boggling thing was the German Destroyer out in the Atlantic. If Bon Jovi would have broke into song with the other guys doing backup, it would at least have made for a more entertaining (if not horried train-wrecking) of a movie.

[Rose]

Originally Posted by fred8615

Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure he survives.

I believe he gets hit in the head with a giant piece of metal after the S-boat blows up in an almighty atomic explosion. He is most definitely dead.

[Ducimus]

Which one was Bon Jovi? I honestly missed this. Havent seen a picture of that guy since the 80's.