U571, what kind of sub was it?

[fastfed]

Actually what kind of American Sub was it at first, than what kind of U-boat was it?


Besides the special effects this movie was pretty bad as in terms of realism, but most of the world doesn't know any better..

But I am curious as to what kind of sub it is, because I was looking up type II's on google, and it mentioned that movie U-571, no way was that a type II/.

[humesdog]

the German boat was a type vii. Now the american boat was an s-boat, I think that's the name of the class. And I think everyone on this forum agreed that the s-boat could never be made to look like a type vii u-boat.

[Dowly]

Dont know which class the US boat was, but if it was S-class, it would need a major overhaul to look german VII! For example, a balao class would be much easier to transform to a VII.

[U-418]

I do have U-571 on DVD.
I do recall the american sub to be S-33 (S-class)
and as for the german sub U-571 itself...

no comment...

[GoldenRivet]

Are you referring to the movie boat or the real boat??

The real U-571 was commissioned on 22 may 1941 constructed by Blohm & Voss
The boat had two commanders during its lifespan KptLt. Helmut Mohlmann and Oblt. Gustav Lussow.

The boat served for 11 patrols sinking 5 ships and damaging 3 others, 2 of which were beyond repair.

Her fate was sealed on the 28th of January 1944 west of Ireland upon being depth charged by an aircraft... all hands lost.

http://www.uboat.net/boats/u571.htm

[U-418]

no comment.

[TheSamuraiJedi]

The boat in "U-571" is clearly a VIIC due to the conning tower and flood hole arangements.

However..the movie is laughable, the only good use for it is staring at the boat, and thats it.

And those that say an S-class couldnt possibly be made to resemble a German boat..that sounds accurate, because the ammount of metal and fabrication needed would sink the boat and make it too heavy! IMHO.

[HunterICX]

http://www.uboat.net/boats/u571.htm

U-571 VII/C

[TheJaguar]

The code books and Enigma were taken by the Britsh .
Not by the USA who were not in the war at that stage.
The movie is wrong but an American Hero sells better at the Box office.
I was quite offended by that lie.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Originally Posted by TheJaguar

The code books and Enigma were taken by the Britsh .
Not by the USA who were not in the war at that stage.
The movie is wrong but an American Hero sells better at the Box office.
I was quite offended by that lie.

Yes the movie U-571 was a crock. Watch "Das Boot" instead... much better film there.

However, please leave your angry-at-America sentiment elsewhere... or stand in line with everyone else who hates us.

You shouldn't judge America by a Hollywood film production.

[Siegfried von Funk]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Dont know which class the US boat was, but if it was S-class, it would need a major overhaul to look german VII! For example, a balao class would be much easier to transform to a VII.

Garrr, they'd have to cut it almost in half! They could make a Typ Vii AND a Typ II...

[Siegfried von Funk]

Originally Posted by TheJaguar

The code books and Enigma were taken by the Britsh .
Not by the USA who were not in the war at that stage.
The movie is wrong but an American Hero sells better at the Box office.
I was quite offended by that lie.

U-571 was a crock, but get over it. It was a MOVIE, never put forth as fact. It's more like an unintended spoof of WW2 sub movies. They gave credit at the end for the actual captures of Schlussel Machine.
Of course you know the U.S. DID capture a Boot and DIDN't lose the tow. U-505 now lives in Chicago, hometown of then Capt. Daniel Gallery, who thought up the scheme and made it work.

Prost auf der Freikorps Doenitz! Schoenen Gruss, Kpt Lehmann!

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Originally Posted by Siegfried von Funk

U-571 was a crock, but get over it. It was a MOVIE, never put forth as fact. It's more like an unintended spoof of WW2 sub movies. They gave credit at the end for the actual captures of Schlussel Machine.
Of course you know the U.S. DID capture a Boot and DIDN't lose the tow. U-505 now lives in Chicago, hometown of then Capt. Daniel Gallery, who thought up the scheme and made it work.

Prost auf der Freikorps Doenitz! Schoenen Gruss, Kpt Lehmann!

Gruss! Seigfried, auf der hut sein!

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by TheJaguar

The code books and Enigma were taken by the Britsh .
Not by the USA who were not in the war at that stage.
The movie is wrong but an American Hero sells better at the Box office.
I was quite offended by that lie.

The idea of the American Hero sells better at the box office in America - which is more or less who the target audience was. Had the film been written, directed and produced as a UK release, or an Iranian release or Mexican box office release im confident the story would have been quite different.

Im sad to admit - perhaps its the failing of the school system? - But there are a lot of "Yanks" out there who are on the same mental level as Homer Simpson and they flock to movies like this thinking "oooohhhh special effects." These types of people see no real historical value in the movie and in fact probably think it was the way it really happened. Either way this type of movie go-er doesnt really care for much but the size of the explosions and the mindlessness of the story line.

On the other hand im happy to admit that there are just about as many people who understand that this is box office propaganda and would have probably seen the movie even if it were the British or Canadians or Australians capturing the U-boat secrets. Some of those men went down with the U-boat while handing secret documents out the conning tower hatch!

While films as U-571 are glittery and tell a white lie to present a story - it is important to remember that no one nations contribution during the second world war is more important than the contributions of another nation... the reason behind this as that for a brief proud moment in history national lines practically were erased - all of our nations were united - as one nation if you will - for a common cause. Because of this it is more important for us to remember the truth rather than concentrate on some box office money generator with little basis on fact.

NOW

as far as an S-class sub being made to look like a Type VII... all they did was put a type VII replica conning tower on it - it DIDNT look like a Type VII.

but in the rain, at night with the captain's (bill paxton) orders "keep her low in the water - i dont want this german getting a good look at our silhouette." i think that the conning tower would have been pretty much all that was visible to the nearby german crew.

so how did the U-boat which attacked the S-class sub know it was enemy? I guess by the crew loading up the prisoners on deck. not to mention that during the initial attack sequence the radio operator on U-571 had ample time to fire off a distress message to BdU such as "U-boat arrived... not ours... under commando attack". BdU would have probably had time to send a message to the outbound rescue sub - something like - "U-571 compromised - under commando raid as of 2200 hours - contact with U-571 now lost - assess the situation and if required sink U-571 and her agressor with extreme prejudice in order to protect enigma secrets."

any self respecting U-boat skipper would have followed those orders...but thats just my guess on how things happened in the film.