The Enemy Below

On board the U-boat we hear the sea depth given as "310 meters"; that's equivalent to 170 fathoms or 1,020 feet.

We then hear the same depth given on board the destroyer as "150 fathoms".

Murrell converts it in his head first to meters, then to feet, even though as an experienced American seaman he would certainly know that 1 fathom is exactly 6 feet.

Furthermore, although the fathom depth was wrong, he converts to the right value"310 meters - that's over 1,000 feet".

When the switches on the submarine's "attack computer" are turned prior to firing the first salvo of torpedoes, one switch knob flops around, but it is quickly corrected by the actor.

During the heavy rainstorm there is a shot of the radar antenna against a partly cloudy sky.

In the Bridge game dummy is placed on the table before the opening lead.

The correct sequence isopening lead and then the dummy hand is shown.

World War 2 destroyer escorts had two main engines and two propellers.

Underwater shots of the model used in the movie show only one propeller.

When Vol Stolberg goes to leave the control room, he sees the word "Furher" on a sign above the doorway.

He covers with it with a towel, but in the next shot the position of the towel has changed.

In the U-boat, the 24-hour clock has the name "Timex" on it.

In the card game scene Lt.

Ware's body position shifts wildly throughout the bidding dialog - at first sitting upright and slightly hunched over the card table, then slouching to his left with his left arm on the table, then sitting far back in the chair, and finally slouching to his left with chin in hand.

When the U-boat is first sighted the captain says; "We might get close enough to get a shot at him before he pops under.

" At the reported range of 6,000 yards the U-boat was already an easy shot for the 3"/50 guns of a destroyer escort (14,600 yards max range, about 10,000 yards effective range).

After the u-boat's first torpedo attack on the DE the captain orders 18 knots and turns to attack.

No anti-submarine vessel would have increased to this speed, since anything over about 15 knots was too fast for the sonar to work effectively, and the sonar was required for the coming attack.

Early in the movie the u-boat fires two torpedoes from its stern tubes at the DE.

However, the model is clearly a Type VII u-boat, which would have had only a single stern tube.

Right after the burial at sea sequence on board the rescue destroyer, you can see a watertight deck hatch rigged in the open position, with its escape scuttle also open.

During wartime cruising, (Condition III) Navy Regulations require all watertight doors, hatches and scuttles on the weather decks to be closed while the ship is underway.

Noteany deck exposed to the outside is classified as a "Weather deck".

The DE has doctor onboard.

A doctor was not part of the standard compliment of destroyer escorts.

Finishing a target on the surface was something a U-Boat did to a merchant ship.

No U-Boat would dare surface in the presence of even a heavily damaged destroyer escort as shown in the final battle.

Even damaged as shown, most of the escort's weapons would still be operational (no electricity was required) and extremely deadly to a U-Boat.

All of the situations in which U-Boats fought significant warships while surfaced during the war were when caught on the surface and unable to safely dive, or when too damaged to remain under water.

In the original book, with a smaller British escort, the tactic could have made sense.

During the chase, Capt.

Murrell (US) is worried about being drawn into a trap with Raider M.

It is unlikely that a US DE would have a problem with this, since its radar would allow it to detect the raider well in advance, and its speed would be greater than that of any raider, allowing it to evade an attack.

The situation would have been a problem in the original book, where the warship was an early war British escort, which would have neither the radar nor the speed of the destroyer escort.

The U-boat is supposedly intent on making a rendezvous with a surface raider.

There are two problems with this.

1) The premise makes sense in the original book when the warship was a British escort earlier in the war, and German surface raiders were active.

By the time of the movie, with a US escort later in the war, German surface raiders had all been captured, destroyed, or driven off the seas.

2) A German submarine commander would have referenced a surface raider by its actual name, not by a British style code name such as "Raider M".

When the destroyer escort turns after the U-boat following the first torpedo attack, the DE lowers its sonar dome.

As that dome carries both the sonar transmitter and receiver, it would have had to be in the lower / operating position to be used in all the preceding scenes.

During the initial torpedo attack it is stated that the range is 1,000 yards.

The speed of the torpedoes is set at 30 knots.

The U-boat captain is told the running time for the torpedoes will be 1 minute 40 seconds.

At 30 knots it requires only 1 minute to move 1,000 yards.

Therefore, even allowing for some additional spread in the range, the run time could not be anywhere near the stated time.

As the U-boat's destruct charges set by her crew finally explode, the sound is less like bombs and more similar to gunshots, such as those aimed at the DE when she is about to ram the U-boat.

In the bridge game the final card dealt is to the the dealer's right, not to the dealer's hand as it should be.

Also, the bid "pass and double" is not a proper bid; one can pass, or double, but not both.

When the destroyer re-engages the sub after completing the triangle it drops a depth charge pattern and the sub turns left.

The captain calls, "Left standard rudder," and the exec repeats, "Right standard rudder," down the comms tube.

Inexorable duel of great stars into a submarine and a destroyer . During World War II, an American destroyer escort 'USS Haynes' (it was played by the real 'USS Whitehurst') captained by a tough skipper (Robert Mitchum) meets a German U-Boat commanded by an intelligent captain (Curt Jurgens) .

I am a great fan of the WW2 movies that were turned out in the 1950's and early 60's. This is one of those classics.

During World War II, an American destroyer meets a German U-Boat. Both captains are good ones, and the engagement lasts for a considerable time.

The South Atlantic during World War 2. The US destroyer USS Haynes spots and engages a German U-boat.

The battle of wits between a destroyer and Submarine has been depicted in several films, and this one seemed to have all the ingredients to make a tension filled story. But for me it fails at many levels.

The Enemy Below is a classic battle between two very good navy commanders, one being the captain of an American destroyer, the other commanding a German U boat. Both characters are portrayed flawlessly by Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens, respectively.

"The Enemy Below" released in 1957, was one of those films directed by Dick Powell, and starring Robert Mitchum, that sparked with genuine realism and utmost attention to detail. This film also showed the harsh realities in war, and the dedication that men on both sides of the conflict can give to the task appointed.

Somewhere in the South Atlantic during World War 2, an American Destroyer captained by experienced captain Murrell (Robert Mitchum) spots something close by on its radar screen and sets about trying to discover what is lurking in the vicinity. The crew on board the destroyer soon discover that they have in fact spotted a German U-Boat and set about trying to destroy it.

Enough has been said about this film in the other reviews but I would like to draw attention to two scenes that have remained with me since I saw "The Enemy Below" as a boy. When some of his crew show the signs of stress when under constant bombardment from above, the sub captain, Von Stolberg,has a Germanic drinking song played as loudly as possible through the sub's PA.