Other mistake: When attacking the convoy, the crew rushes forward during the crash dive. Just after a crew member jumps through the hatch after the bow crew compartment, you see someone standing still a second before getting pushed in the view of the camera. (01:31:15)
Das Boot (1981)
Plot summary
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Jurgen Prochnow, Herbert Gronemeyer, Hubertus Bengsch, Klaus Wennemann
La Rochelle, (occupied) France, in late 1941: The adventurous, naive German war correspondent Leutenant Werner volunteers to go aboard U-96 and experience life as a crew member on a German U-boat hunting allied convoys in the North Atlantic. Little does he know the "adventure" is going to be a nightmare trip: After sinking three cargo ships, the U-boat is relentlessly hunted down by enemy destroyers, dropping endless rounds of depth charge and making the U-boat crew go through hell. Escaping narrowly, U-96 (already on its way back home) is re-assigned to sneak through the heavily guarded Straits of Gibraltar, virtually a suicide mission. The U-boat is discovered, attacked and sent to the bottom of the Straits. However, unbeknownst to the enemy, the crew manages to survive and repair the vessel underwater. U-96 resurfaces and finally makes it home. Having just arrived, however, allied fighters air-raid the port. Half of the crew gets killed (Werner among the survivors) and the boat is sunk in the dock - this time for good.
More mistakes in Das Boot
Captain: I'm sorry.
Lt. Werner: Is it hopeless?
Captain: It's been 15 hours. He's not going to pull it off. I'm sorry.
Lt. Werner: I asked for it. 'To be heading into the inexorable... where no mother will care for us... no woman crosses our path... where only reality reigns... with cruelty and grandeur.' I was drunk with those words. Well, this is reality.
Trivia: The full sized mock up of the U boat was rented by Steven Spielberg for use in the first Indiana Jone's film.
Question: I know practically nothing about submarines, so this seemed a bit strange to me. When there's that huge storm, why do they keep staying at the surface, only going down for an hour at a time?
Answer: Because that's what the U-boat was designed to do. Unlike modern nuclear boats, they didn't have the capacity to stay submerged for long periods - basically just as long as the air lasted; there wasn't atmosphere control equipment. They would 'snorkel' near the surface, recharge the batteries with the diesel engines, and then dive for a few hours at most before having to come back up and repeat the process.
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Answer: U-boats also travelled much faster on the surface...about 18 knots, vs only 8 knots or so beneath the surface.