Better Battle of the Altantic movies...

[Avimimus]

Hello,

 

I've been seeing trailers for the new American movie... and it looks, well, historically misleading. Anyone know of more realistic movies?

 

I remember catching the end of a movie on television when I was a kid... it had some memorable scenes... particularly a crewman reporting seeing 'faces in the water' at night  and it being assumed that was a result of stress, but some crew finding a lifesaver/lifebuoy the next day that had been cut by the props (and possibly covering it up for morale reasons). I also recall the movie ending on a cliff-hanger when an order to ram a U-Boat is given. The ship might also have had wooden guns (so early-war Flower class?)... however, I might be conflating two movies with that last point.

 

I started looking at descriptions of movies... and a lot seem to have implausible moby-dick plot lines about fighting a single submarine captain (whereas the reality is that a lot of the terror came from not knowing what one was fighting... and it was often impossible to tell if a submarine had been sunk or had escaped... let alone identify it)!

 

The closest in tone that I've found so far (based on the synopses) is The Cruel Sea (1957)... is that the movie I was remembering - or is it another one?

[Cybermat47]

- Das Boot

- Sink the Bismarck!
- The Enemy Below (not that realistic but still good)

[TheBlackPenguin]

The Cruel Sea as you mentioned is still one, if not the best for covering the Battle of the Atlantic...In my opinion the most important battle in the West. The book is even better, its one of those you put down for second as you realise it had to have been written by someone with first hand experience.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by TheBlackPenguin

[Feathered_IV]

The Cruel Sea is one of my favourites.  I’ve watched/read that story many times over.  I don’t recall the faces in the sea part.  Perhaps it was in the film with Humphrey Bogart called Action in the North Atlantic.  
 

I’ve been especially interested in the history of the Royal Navy of late.  Although it isn’t a film as such, I can recommend this documentary that I recently saw on the hunt for the Scharnhorst.   Very dramatic in a restrained British sort of way and it’s especially interesting to see first hand accounts from people who were still very much in their prime.  
 

 

[MiloMorai]

HMS Compass Rose in the film.

 

 HMS Coreopsis K32

 

from Wiki

 

Royal Navy

In Royal Navy service, Coreopsis was employed on convoy escort duty in the Atlantic. On 20 October 1940, she rescued 33 survivors from the British cargo ship MV La Estancia sunk by the German submarine U-47 south of Iceland. On 16 November 1942, she rescued 169 survivors from the British merchant ship SS Clan MacTaggart that was sunk by U-92 off Cadiz. On 5 March 1943, she picked-up survivors from the British merchant ships SS Fidra, SS Ger-y-Bryn and SS Trefusis which had been sunk by U-130 northwest of Lisbon.

Royal Hellenic Navy

 

Coreopsis was transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy on 1 November 1943, one of several British escort vessels transferred to Greece after April 1941. Renamed Kriezis (Greek: Κριεζής, after the naval hero Antonios Kriezis) but retaining her K32 pennant number, she served as a convoy escort out of Liverpool and on 13 June 1944, escorted Convoy ECM6 which was part of Operation Neptune, the maritime element of the Normandy Landings. She joined the British Mediterranean Fleet in October 1944. 

She remained with the Greek navy after the war and was finally returned to the Royal Navy on 1 June 1952.

 

She collided with HMS Camperdown during the filming, damaging the destroyer.

[kestrel79]

Das Boot the best.

[Avimimus]

Thanks! The answers are much appreciated! I knew I could rely on you guys.

[Feathered_IV]

By coincidence I watched Sink the Bismarck the other day.  It's fairly lightweight but still worth a look.  Another one was a rather fun movie from 1958 called The Silent Enemy which dealt with British and Italian Chariot torpedoes in the Med (quite enjoyed that).  I'm trying to track down The Battle of the River Plate too, but no luck so far.

[Heliopause]

I'm just gonna mention this one. Nice fictional from 1943.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silver_Fleet

[Feathered_IV]

Has anybody seen Greyhound yet?  I read the Forester book (The Good Shepherd) which it was based on recently and it felt very immersive and authentic.  Not really expecting anything like that from a modern film of course, but looking forward to seeing it all the same.