The Enemy Below
Encyclopedia
The Enemy Below is a 1957
war film
which tells the story of the battle between the captain of an American
destroyer escort
and the commander of a German
U-boat
during World War II
. It stars Robert Mitchum
, Curt Jürgens, David Hedison
and Theodore Bikel
. The movie was directed and produced by Dick Powell
. The film was based on a novel by Denys Rayner
, a British naval officer involved in anti-submarine warfare throughout the Second Battle of the Atlantic
.
Walter Rossi received the 1958 Academy Award
for best special effects.
destroyer escort
, the USS Haynes (DE-181), and a German U-boat
that is attempting to rendezvous with a German merchant raider
in the South Atlantic Ocean
. Captain Murrell (Robert Mitchum
), a former officer in the merchant marine and now an active duty Lieutenant Commander
in the Naval Reserve
, has recently taken command of the Haynes, even though he is still weak from having survived the sinking of his previous ship. Before the U-boat is first detected, a loud mouthed sailor, dumping garbage, questions the new captain's fitness and ability, calling him a 'feather merchant'. However, as the battle begins, Murrell shows himself to be a match for wily U-boat Kapitän von Stolberg (Curt Jürgens) in a prolonged, deadly battle of wits that tests both men and their crews. Each man grows to respect his opponent.
In the end, von Stolberg succeeds in torpedoing the destroyer. However, Murrell has one last trick up his sleeve. Ordering his men to abandon ship, he tells them to first set fires on the deck to make the ship look more damaged than it actually is. This, he hopes will cause the U-boat's captain to surface and sink the destroyer with the U-boat's deck gun instead of using another valuable torpedo. His ploy works, and when von Stolberg surfaces to finish off the Haynes, Murrell orders his gunners to disable the submarine and destroy its deck gun. Ordering the skeleton crew manning the engine room to set the engines at full speed and abandon ship, he then turns the sinking Haynes towards the U-boat. Von Stolberg orders his crew to set the sub's detonators and abandon ship. The Haynes rams
the U-boat almost cutting it in two, ensuring that the submarine would not escape.
Murrell, the last man aboard his ship, is about to abandon ship when he notices the German captain (von Stolberg) on the conning tower of the U-boat with the submarine's wounded executive officer (Korvettenkapitän Heini Scwaffer). Respectfully, Von Stolberg salutes Murrell, who returns the salute. Murrell then tosses a rope to the submarine and pulls each man on board, he then says they should abandon ship, leaving the dying "Heini" Schwaffer (Theodore Bikel
), but von Stolberg refuses to leave his dying friend. At that point members of both crews scramble on board, helping the three men into a lifeboat. They manage to clear the tangled wrecks just before the sub explodes. The film ends as the German survivors, now on another American destroyer, consign Schwaffer's body to the deep, as the American crew watches respectfully.
In the movie, pipe-smoking, chess-playing British Captain Murrell becomes Mitchum's U.S. Navy man. The fact that the aristocratic German captain and his senior officers are contemptuous of Hitler and the Nazis is one of the themes of the film—after a zealous young Nazi officer recently assigned to the crew has greeted von Stolberg with "Heil Hitler," Schwaffer comments that the young man is new to the ship and will soon get tired of the politically correct Nazi formalities. The fact that von Stolberg and the other officers are very obviously not supporters of the Nazis, but merely military men serving their country, makes this one of the first examples of a "good German, bad German" scenario in a major American film, though for Rayner, the Prussia
n U-boat commander still embodies the attitudes and brutal behavior against which Murrell and his crew are fighting.
However, a conversation between two members of the American crew during a lull in the action about whether the ship's stewards are "happy" makes at least an indirect reference that the US Navy was racially segregated during World War II, with African-Americans restricted to service as mess attendants and stewards. In the film, at least one African-American serves among the K-gun crew of the ship, taking a more active combat-oriented role.
In the novel, Murrell tells his ship's doctor that "unrestricted submarine warfare has never been part of British Naval practice, except of course against enemy warships." The film is more oblique. Murrell mentions that his wife was aboard his merchant ship and died when it was sunk by a torpedo; von Stolberg mentions that both of his sons have died in the war and comments that, unlike World War I, this is not a "good" war. In the film, von Stolberg calms and reassures a panicking sailor running amok with a wrench; in the novel, he shoots him.
The reconciliation between the commanders in the movie's finale, beginning with a mutual salute aboard the flaming wrecks of their vessels, differs from Rayner's version where, after a courteous overture by Murrell is rebuffed by von Stolberg, both commanders and the rest of the swimming survivors remain "locked in deadly combat", swapping punches in the sea - an ending more reminiscent of John Boorman's 1969 World War II film Hell in the Pacific
, starring Lee Marvin
and Toshirō Mifune
.
In the movie, Murrell is about to abandon ship when he runs back to throw a rope to von Stolberg, who has remained with the dying Schwaffer on the U-boat conning tower and is apparently waiting to die when the U-boat's scuttling charges will detonate. Murrell and von Stolberg are able to move Schwaffer to the destroyer, which is also certain to sink when the sub explodes, but von Stolberg explains to Murrell in English that he will not leave Schwaffer because "he is my friend."
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Ware, seeing the three men stranded on the burning destroyer, orders the mixed American and German crew of the lifeboat he's commanding to go back to the destroyer even though this means putting the survivors in danger. Americans and Germans alike then race against time to rescue Murrell, von Stolberg and Schwaffer.
, filmed in the Pacific Ocean
near Oahu
, Hawaii
. Many of the Whitehursts crewmen acted in the film: The phone talkers, the gun and depth charge crews, the sailor fishing, and all of the men seen abandoning ship, were Whitehurst sailors. The ship's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander
Walter Smith, played the engineering officer. He is the man seen reading comics (Little Orphan Annie
) during the lull before the action.
, a Cannon class destroyer escort
. She did serve off the coast of Trinidad
, but after the battle with a German U-boat. The Straub also recovered a U-boat crew, but the submarine was sunk by aircraft in 1944 off the coast of Recife
, Brazil
.
The U-boat in the film is very unrealistic in its size. It has passageways and side rooms, with the captain having a private stateroom off the control center. No World War II U-boat had staterooms and the captain's bunk was little more than a shelf across a small passage from the radio room, which was itself merely a small closet. Even the final U-boat class of the war, the Type XXI
, was cramped and allowed for only very close quarters.
Fresh water was also extremely limited, and the crew is also much neater and cleaner than a real crew would have been. (For a more realistic portrayal of life aboard a U-boat, see Das Boot
).
The turntable the record was played on was an American turntable not made until after the war.
The movie plot resembles the ramming and sinking of U-405 by the destroyer USS Borie (DD-215)
. The Borie was too badly damaged to salvage and was sunk the next day.
The Royal Navy had more success with U-574 rammed by HMS Stork
on 19 December 1941 and HMS Fame
ramming U-353 on 16 October 1942 & U-69 on 17 February 1943 also in December 1942, convoy HX 219 came under attack and HMS Hesperus counter-attacked and destroyed U-357 by ramming it.
(Tony Scott, 1995), the crew of the USS Alabama goes on board and talks about submarine movies, quoting The Enemy Below.
1957 in film
The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
which tells the story of the battle between the captain of an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
destroyer escort
Destroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
and the commander of a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It stars Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
, Curt Jürgens, David Hedison
David Hedison
Albert David Hedison, Jr. is an Armenian-American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work. In 1959, when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage television series Five Fingers, NBC insisted that he change his name...
and Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
. The movie was directed and produced by Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
. The film was based on a novel by Denys Rayner
Denys Rayner
Denys Arthur Rayner DSC & Bar, VRD, RNVR fought throughout the Battle of the Atlantic. After intensive war service at sea, Rayner became a writer, a farmer, and a successful designer and builder of small sailing craft - his first being the Westcoaster; his most successful being the glass fibre...
, a British naval officer involved in anti-submarine warfare throughout the Second Battle of the Atlantic
Second Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. It was at its...
.
Walter Rossi received the 1958 Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for best special effects.
Plot
The movie revolves around a battle between an American Buckley-classBuckley class destroyer escort
The Buckley class destroyer escorts were 102 destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1943 - 1944. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. The lead ship was USS Buckley which was launched on 9 January 1943. The ships had General Electric steam...
destroyer escort
Destroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
, the USS Haynes (DE-181), and a German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
that is attempting to rendezvous with a German merchant raider
Merchant raider
Merchant raiders are ships which disguise themselves as non-combatant merchant vessels, whilst actually being armed and intending to attack enemy commerce. Germany used several merchant raiders early in World War I, and again early in World War II...
in the South Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. Captain Murrell (Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
), a former officer in the merchant marine and now an active duty Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
in the Naval Reserve
United States Navy Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve, until 2005 known as the United States Naval Reserve, is the Reserve Component of the United States Navy...
, has recently taken command of the Haynes, even though he is still weak from having survived the sinking of his previous ship. Before the U-boat is first detected, a loud mouthed sailor, dumping garbage, questions the new captain's fitness and ability, calling him a 'feather merchant'. However, as the battle begins, Murrell shows himself to be a match for wily U-boat Kapitän von Stolberg (Curt Jürgens) in a prolonged, deadly battle of wits that tests both men and their crews. Each man grows to respect his opponent.
In the end, von Stolberg succeeds in torpedoing the destroyer. However, Murrell has one last trick up his sleeve. Ordering his men to abandon ship, he tells them to first set fires on the deck to make the ship look more damaged than it actually is. This, he hopes will cause the U-boat's captain to surface and sink the destroyer with the U-boat's deck gun instead of using another valuable torpedo. His ploy works, and when von Stolberg surfaces to finish off the Haynes, Murrell orders his gunners to disable the submarine and destroy its deck gun. Ordering the skeleton crew manning the engine room to set the engines at full speed and abandon ship, he then turns the sinking Haynes towards the U-boat. Von Stolberg orders his crew to set the sub's detonators and abandon ship. The Haynes rams
Ramming
In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in air, sea and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram's momentum...
the U-boat almost cutting it in two, ensuring that the submarine would not escape.
Murrell, the last man aboard his ship, is about to abandon ship when he notices the German captain (von Stolberg) on the conning tower of the U-boat with the submarine's wounded executive officer (Korvettenkapitän Heini Scwaffer). Respectfully, Von Stolberg salutes Murrell, who returns the salute. Murrell then tosses a rope to the submarine and pulls each man on board, he then says they should abandon ship, leaving the dying "Heini" Schwaffer (Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
), but von Stolberg refuses to leave his dying friend. At that point members of both crews scramble on board, helping the three men into a lifeboat. They manage to clear the tangled wrecks just before the sub explodes. The film ends as the German survivors, now on another American destroyer, consign Schwaffer's body to the deep, as the American crew watches respectfully.
Differences from the novel
Rayner's first novel, the story of a prolonged duel between a U-boat and a British destroyer - The Enemy Below - adapted in 1957 for a film by Dick Powell, in which the writer's destroyer HMS Hecate became the USS Haynes - played by USS Whitehurst - while his British captain, John Murrell now became an American played by Robert Mitchum with Curt Jürgens playing Rayner's U-boat skipper, Kapitän von Stolberg. Powell displays Rayner's book at the start of the trailer of 'The Enemy Below'. Some of the real war time experiences described in the novel and later transferred to film can be read in Rayner's low-key account of his encounter between Royal Navy corvettes and U-1200 off southern Ireland on 11 November 1944 between pages 224-228 of his book 'Escort'.In the movie, pipe-smoking, chess-playing British Captain Murrell becomes Mitchum's U.S. Navy man. The fact that the aristocratic German captain and his senior officers are contemptuous of Hitler and the Nazis is one of the themes of the film—after a zealous young Nazi officer recently assigned to the crew has greeted von Stolberg with "Heil Hitler," Schwaffer comments that the young man is new to the ship and will soon get tired of the politically correct Nazi formalities. The fact that von Stolberg and the other officers are very obviously not supporters of the Nazis, but merely military men serving their country, makes this one of the first examples of a "good German, bad German" scenario in a major American film, though for Rayner, the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n U-boat commander still embodies the attitudes and brutal behavior against which Murrell and his crew are fighting.
However, a conversation between two members of the American crew during a lull in the action about whether the ship's stewards are "happy" makes at least an indirect reference that the US Navy was racially segregated during World War II, with African-Americans restricted to service as mess attendants and stewards. In the film, at least one African-American serves among the K-gun crew of the ship, taking a more active combat-oriented role.
In the novel, Murrell tells his ship's doctor that "unrestricted submarine warfare has never been part of British Naval practice, except of course against enemy warships." The film is more oblique. Murrell mentions that his wife was aboard his merchant ship and died when it was sunk by a torpedo; von Stolberg mentions that both of his sons have died in the war and comments that, unlike World War I, this is not a "good" war. In the film, von Stolberg calms and reassures a panicking sailor running amok with a wrench; in the novel, he shoots him.
The reconciliation between the commanders in the movie's finale, beginning with a mutual salute aboard the flaming wrecks of their vessels, differs from Rayner's version where, after a courteous overture by Murrell is rebuffed by von Stolberg, both commanders and the rest of the swimming survivors remain "locked in deadly combat", swapping punches in the sea - an ending more reminiscent of John Boorman's 1969 World War II film Hell in the Pacific
Hell in the Pacific
Hell in the Pacific is a 1968 World War II film starring Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune, the only two actors in the entire film. It was directed by John Boorman....
, starring Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
and Toshirō Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
.
In the movie, Murrell is about to abandon ship when he runs back to throw a rope to von Stolberg, who has remained with the dying Schwaffer on the U-boat conning tower and is apparently waiting to die when the U-boat's scuttling charges will detonate. Murrell and von Stolberg are able to move Schwaffer to the destroyer, which is also certain to sink when the sub explodes, but von Stolberg explains to Murrell in English that he will not leave Schwaffer because "he is my friend."
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Ware, seeing the three men stranded on the burning destroyer, orders the mixed American and German crew of the lifeboat he's commanding to go back to the destroyer even though this means putting the survivors in danger. Americans and Germans alike then race against time to rescue Murrell, von Stolberg and Schwaffer.
Cast
- Robert MitchumRobert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
as Captain Murrell - Curt Jürgens as Kapitän von Stolberg. Jürgens was imprisoned by order of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels during World War II.
- Theodore BikelTheodore BikelTheodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
as Korvettenkapitän 'Heinie' Schwaffer, von Stolberg's second in command. Bikel is an immigrant Austrian Jew who was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1924. He and his family fled to America by way of PalestinePalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in 1937. - Al HedisonDavid HedisonAlbert David Hedison, Jr. is an Armenian-American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work. In 1959, when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage television series Five Fingers, NBC insisted that he change his name...
as Lieutenant Ware, the executive officer of the Haynes - Russell Collins as Doctor, USS Haynes
- Kurt KreugerKurt KreugerKurt Kreuger was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third most requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.-Life and career:...
as Von Holem - Frank AlbertsonFrank AlbertsonFrank Albertson was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13....
as Lieutenant, Junior Grade Crain, USS Haynes - Biff ElliotBiff ElliotBiff Elliot is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as popular detective Mike Hammer in the 1953 version of I, the Jury, and as his guest appearance in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark".-Early life:...
as Quartermaster, USS Haynes - Doug McClureDoug McClureDouglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
, in his film debut, as Ensign Merry, USS Haynes - Clint EastwoodClint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, as Seaman (uncredited)
Production
The destroyer escort USS Haynes was portrayed by USS Whitehurst (DE-634)USS Whitehurst (DE-634)
USS Whitehurst , a of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Henry Purefoy Whitehurst, Jr. Ensign Whitehurst was a crew member of the when he was killed while his ship participated in the Battle of Savo Island off Guadalcanal in August 1942.-Initial operations:Whitehurst was laid down on...
, filmed in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
near Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Many of the Whitehursts crewmen acted in the film: The phone talkers, the gun and depth charge crews, the sailor fishing, and all of the men seen abandoning ship, were Whitehurst sailors. The ship's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Walter Smith, played the engineering officer. He is the man seen reading comics (Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...
) during the lull before the action.
Comparisons with real life
The original DE-181 was the USS Straub (DE-181)USS Straub (DE-181)
USS Straub was a built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys....
, a Cannon class destroyer escort
Cannon class destroyer escort
The Cannon class destroyer escorts were built primarily for ocean Anti-Submarine Warfare escort service during World War II. The lead ship, was commissioned on 26 September 1943 at Wilmington, Delaware. The class was also known as the DET type from their Diesel Electric Tandem drive. Of the 116...
. She did serve off the coast of Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, but after the battle with a German U-boat. The Straub also recovered a U-boat crew, but the submarine was sunk by aircraft in 1944 off the coast of Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
The U-boat in the film is very unrealistic in its size. It has passageways and side rooms, with the captain having a private stateroom off the control center. No World War II U-boat had staterooms and the captain's bunk was little more than a shelf across a small passage from the radio room, which was itself merely a small closet. Even the final U-boat class of the war, the Type XXI
German Type XXI submarine
Type XXI U-boats, also known as "Elektroboote", were the first submarines designed to operate primarily submerged, rather than as surface ships that could submerge as a means to escape detection or launch an attack.-Description:...
, was cramped and allowed for only very close quarters.
Fresh water was also extremely limited, and the crew is also much neater and cleaner than a real crew would have been. (For a more realistic portrayal of life aboard a U-boat, see Das Boot
Das Boot
Das Boot is a 1981 German epic war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann...
).
The turntable the record was played on was an American turntable not made until after the war.
The movie plot resembles the ramming and sinking of U-405 by the destroyer USS Borie (DD-215)
USS Borie (DD-215)
USS Borie was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the first ship named for Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of the Navy, Adolph E. Borie...
. The Borie was too badly damaged to salvage and was sunk the next day.
The Royal Navy had more success with U-574 rammed by HMS Stork
36th Escort Group (Royal Navy)
36th Escort Group was a British formation of the Royal Navy which saw action during the Second World War, principally in the Battle of the Atlantic....
on 19 December 1941 and HMS Fame
HMS Fame
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Fame, whilst another was planned:*HMS Fame was a 20-gun Irish Royalist ship. She was captured by the Parliamentarians in 1649 and was blown up in 1658....
ramming U-353 on 16 October 1942 & U-69 on 17 February 1943 also in December 1942, convoy HX 219 came under attack and HMS Hesperus counter-attacked and destroyed U-357 by ramming it.
Music
The tune sung by the U-boat crew on the ocean floor between depth charge attacks is from an 18th century march called "Der Dessauer Marsch". As a more popular song, it's also known by the first line of lyrics as "So leben wir" ("That's how we live")."Remakes"
- The 1966 Star TrekStar Trek: The Original SeriesStar Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episode "Balance of TerrorBalance of Terror (TOS episode)"Balance of Terror", written by Paul Schneider and directed by Vincent McEveety, is a first-season episode of the original Star Trek series that first aired on December 15, 1966. It was repeated on August 3, 1967...
" is closely based on this film, with the USS EnterpriseUSS Enterprise (NCC-1701)The USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, is a fictional starship in the Star Trek media franchise. The original Star Trek series depicts her crew's mission "to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before" under the command of Captain James...
cast as the destroyer and the RomulanRomulanThe Romulans are a fictional alien race in the Star Trek universe. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in the 1966 episode "Balance of Terror", they have since made appearances in all the main later Star Trek series: The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager...
vessel as the U-boat.
- The Voyage to the Bottom of the SeaVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...
episode "Killers of the Deep" was not only based on this movie, it also re-used substantial amounts of footage from it. Also David Hedison (then Al Hedison) who played Lieutenant Ware, the executive officer of the Haynes, played Commander Lee Crane.
In popular culture
At the beginning of the movie Crimson TideCrimson Tide (film)
The film has uncredited additional writing by Quentin Tarantino, much of it being the pop-culture reference-laden dialogue.The U.S. Navy objected to many of the elements in the script — particularly the aspect of mutiny on board a U.S. naval vessel — and as such, the film was produced...
(Tony Scott, 1995), the crew of the USS Alabama goes on board and talks about submarine movies, quoting The Enemy Below.