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''U-571'' is a 2000 submarine film directed by
Jonathan Mostow Jonathan Mostow (born November 28, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has directed films such as ''Breakdown'', '' U-571'', '' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'', and '' Surrogates''. Early life Mostow was born ...
from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sam Montgomery and
David Ayer David Ayer (born January 18 , 1968) is an American filmmaker known for making crime films that are set in Los Angeles and deal with gangs and police corruption. His screenplays include ''Training Day'' (2001), ''The Fast and the Furious'' (2001 ...
. The film stars
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...
,
Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...
,
Bill Paxton William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor and filmmaker. He appeared in films such as '' Weird Science'' (1985), ''Aliens'' (1986), ''Near Dark'' (1987), '' Tombstone'' (1993), ''True Lies'' (1994), '' Apollo 13 ...
,
Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...
,
Jake Weber Jake T. Weber (born 12 March 1963) is an English actor, known in film for his role as Michael in '' Dawn of the Dead'' and for his role as Drew in '' Meet Joe Black''. On television, he is best-known for playing Joe DuBois, the sleep-deprived ...
and
Matthew Settle Jeffrey Matthew Settle (born September 17, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for playing Captain Ronald Speirs on the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' and Rufus Humphrey on the CW teen drama series ''Gossip Girl''. Early life Settl ...
. The film, telling the story of a
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
German submarine boarded by American submariners to capture her Enigma cipher machine, does not represent any real events. Although the film was financially successful and reasonably well received by critics, and won the Academy Award for
Best Sound Editing This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow List of film awards, film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awa ...
, the plot attracted substantial criticism. British sailors from captured the first naval Enigma machine from in the
North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
in May 1941, months before the United States entered the war and three years before the US Navy captured and its Enigma machine. Anger over these inaccuracies reached the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, where the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
,
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, agreed that the film was an "affront" to British sailors. The film was also criticized for portraying German U-boat crews in a negative light by showing them gunning down Allied survivors instead of giving them assistance or taking them aboard as prisoners.


Plot

During the Battle of the Atlantic, after sinking a merchant ship from an Allied convoy, German
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
''U-571'' has her engines badly damaged by depth charges from a British
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
. ''U-571's'' skipper ''Kapitänleutnant'' Günther Wassner makes a distress call that is intercepted by American intelligence. The
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
has its submarine ''S-33'' modified to resemble a German resupply U-boat, to try to steal the Enigma machine coding device and sink the ''U-571''. Before the crew of ''S-33'' receives its assignment, the submarine's executive officer Lieutenant Tyler is unhappy about a recommendation for command of his own submarine being blocked by his commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Dahlgren. During a storm, ''S-33's'' boarding party surprises and overwhelms the crew of ''U-571''. After securing ''U-571'', the American ''S-33'' is torpedoed by the arriving German resupply submarine. Dahlgren is blown off the deck and seriously wounded; while struggling in the sea he refuses rescue and orders the boarding party on the captured U-boat immediately to submerge. Tyler takes command of ''U-571'' and dives below the surface, where they subsequently engage and sink the resupply submarine. After making repairs and restoring its power, Tyler decides to route the disabled submarine toward
Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...
in
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. However, they are spotted by a German reconnaissance plane, which is unaware that ''U-571'' has been commandeered by Americans. A nearby German destroyer sends over some crew, but before they arrive, Tyler gives orders to fire a shot from the deck gun, which destroys the ship's radio room, preventing it from reporting the situation and revealing that the Allies have the Enigma. The submarine then dives beneath the German destroyer, which begins to drop depth charges. ''U-571's'' ''Kapitänleutnant'' Wassner escapes captivity, and kills one of Tyler's crew, but he is subdued before he can sabotage the engines. Tyler attempts to deceive the destroyer into stopping its attack, by ejecting debris and a dead crew member out of a torpedo tube, faking their own destruction. However, the destroyer continues to drop depth charges. ''U-571'' drops below , and is damaged by high water pressure. They start to sink, and can only reverse this by ascending uncontrollably. Tyler orders crewman Trigger to submerge himself in the
bilge The bilge of a ship or boat is the part of the hull that would rest on the ground if the vessel were unsupported by water. The "turn of the bilge" is the transition from the bottom of a hull to the sides of a hull. Internally, the bilges (us ...
under water to repressurize the single remaining torpedo tube. Trigger uses an air hose to breathe inside the flooded compartment. He closes the air valve to the stern tube, but finds a second leak, which he can't reach. The crew realizes that Wassner, despite being shackled, is using Morse Code to tap out a signal that the submarine had been captured, so Hirsch kills him. ''U-571'' surfaces heavily damaged and begins to flood, unable to fire its last torpedo. The pursuing destroyer fires with its main guns: the damage pins Trigger's legs when he is beyond reach of the air hose. Unable to turn back, he manages to close the valve just before he drowns. Tyler orders Tank to fire the torpedo; the destroyer is unable to take evasive action and is sunk. As the crew sighs in relief, Tank reports Trigger's death. However, the submarine has taken severe damage, and so the crew abandons it with the Enigma in their possession. They watch ''U-571'' as it slips beneath the waves once and for all. They are eventually spotted and rescued from their lifeboat by a US Navy
PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...
flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
.


Cast

*
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...
as Lieutenant Andrew Tyler *
Bill Paxton William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor and filmmaker. He appeared in films such as '' Weird Science'' (1985), ''Aliens'' (1986), ''Near Dark'' (1987), '' Tombstone'' (1993), ''True Lies'' (1994), '' Apollo 13 ...
as Lieutenant Commander Mike Dahlgren *
Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...
as Chief Gunner's Mate Henry Klough *
Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...
as Lieutenant Pete Emmett *
David Keith David Keith may refer to: * David Keith (novelist) (1906–1994), pen name of American scholar Francis Steegmuller *David Keith (actor) (born 1954), American film and TV performer and director *David Keith (physicist), Canadian-born Harvard Profess ...
as Major Matthew Coonan *
Jake Weber Jake T. Weber (born 12 March 1963) is an English actor, known in film for his role as Michael in '' Dawn of the Dead'' and for his role as Drew in '' Meet Joe Black''. On television, he is best-known for playing Joe DuBois, the sleep-deprived ...
as Lieutenant Michael Hirsch *
Jack Noseworthy Jack Evan Noseworthy Jr. (born December 21, 1964) is an American actor known for his roles in ''Event Horizon'', '' U-571'', '' Barb Wire'' and ''Killing Kennedy''. Early life Noseworthy earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Boston Cons ...
as Seaman Bill Wentz *
Tom Guiry Thomas John Guiry (born October 12, 1981) is an American actor. He is best known for his lead performance as Scott Smalls in the cult coming-of-age film '' The Sandlot,'' which he held at the age of 12, and his role in NBC crime drama ''The Black ...
as Seaman Ted "Trigger" Fitzgerald *
Will Estes William Estes (; born October 21, 1978) is an American actor known for his role on CBS police drama '' Blue Bloods'' as Jameson "Jamie" Reagan, a New York City Police Department officer and the youngest son of the police commissioner, played by ...
as Torpedoman Ronald "Rabbit" Parker * T. C. Carson as Seaman Eddie Carson *
Erik Palladino Erik Palladino (born May 10, 1968) is an American actor known for his portrayal of Dr. Dave Malucci in the NBC medical drama '' ER''. He is also known for his recurring roles as Lt. Michael Daghlian in ''Joan of Arcadia'', Vostanik Sabatino in ...
as Seaman Anthony Mazzola * Dave Power as Motor Machinist Charles "Tank" Clemens *
Derk Cheetwood ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...
as Seaman Herb Griggs *
Matthew Settle Jeffrey Matthew Settle (born September 17, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for playing Captain Ronald Speirs on the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' and Rufus Humphrey on the CW teen drama series ''Gossip Girl''. Early life Settl ...
as Ensign Keith Larson *
Thomas Kretschmann Thomas Kretschmann (; born 8 September 1962) is a German actor who has appeared in many European and American films. His notable roles include Lieutenant Hans von Witzland in '' Stalingrad'' (1993), Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in '' The Pianist'' ( ...
as ''Kapitänleutnant'' Günther Wassner * Gunter Würger as ''Oberleutnant zur See'' Kohl *
Oliver Stokowski Oliver Stokowski (born 8 August 1962) is a German film and stage actor. He is best known for his per formance as ''Schütte - Prisoner No. 82'' in '' Das Experiment''. In 2014 he won the Grimme-Preis The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to ...
as ''Electro-Obermaschinist'' Hans * Burnell Tucker as Admiral Duke * Paul McEvoy (uncredited) as German Captain


Production

''U-571'' was filmed in the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
, near
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
and
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. Footage, sets and models from the movie have been reused for other productions, including ''Submerged'', depicting the loss of , and the fictional ''
Ghostboat ''Ghostboat'' is a 2006 British television film, based on a novel by George E. Simpson and Neal R. Burger. The film features David Jason as its star. It is a fantasy tale of HMS Scorpion, His Majesty's Submarine ''Scorpion'' vanishing during th ...
''. A non-diving replica of the US submarine ''S-33'' is located in
Grand Harbour The Grand Harbour ( mt, il-Port il-Kbir; it, Porto Grande), also known as the Port of Valletta, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks (Malta Dockyard), wharves, and ...
,
Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...
. In the U.S. the film was originally rated "R", because of a scene where Lt. Emmett is beheaded by flying debris. To get a "PG-13", the shot was redone with Emmett instead knocked overboard. This left the audience not knowing what had happened to his character. A death scene was also filmed for Major Coonan, but the effect did not work well, so it was cut.


Critical reception

The film was generally well received by critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a score of 67% based on 116 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The consensus reads: "Excellent cinematography and an interesting plot accompanied by a talented cast and crew make ''U-571'' a tense thriller." It performed well at the box office.
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for two awards at the
73rd Academy Awards The 73rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best of 2000 in film and took place on March 25, 2001, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / ...
: Best Sound (
Steve Maslow Steve Maslow (born October 17, 1944) is an American sound engineer. He won three Academy Awards for Best Sound and has been nominated for four more in the same category. He has worked on more than 200 films since 1978. Selected filmography Mas ...
,
Gregg Landaker Gregg Landaker (born 1951) is a retired American re-recording mixer. He won four Academy Awards for Best Sound and has been nominated for five more in the same category. He worked on 207 films from 1979 until his retirement in 2017, when he dec ...
,
Rick Kline Rick Kline is an American sound engineer. He has been nominated for eleven Academy Awards in the category Best Sound. He has worked on more than 220 films since 1978. Selected filmography * ''Terms of Endearment'' (1983) * '' Silverado'' (1985 ...
and Ivan Sharrock) and
Best Sound Editing This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow List of film awards, film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awa ...
. It won the sound editing award.


Historical correlation


Historical inaccuracies

The film does not portray an historical event. The British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
had captured the first naval Enigma machine in May 1941, before the US had entered the war. The American portrayal offended many of the British military and public. The Allies captured Enigma-related codebooks and machines about fifteen times during the War; all but two of these by British forces. The
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...
captured '' U-744'' in March 1944 and the U.S. Navy seized in June 1944. By this time, the Allies were already routinely decoding German naval Enigma traffic. On the film's release, Labour MP Brian Jenkins used
Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom, currently held as a single session every W ...
in June 2000 to state that the film was an "affront to the memories of the British sailors who lost their lives on this action." Prime Minister
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
said, "I agree entirely with what you say... we hope that people realise these are people that, in many cases, sacrificed their lives in order that this country remained free." Paul Truswell, MP for the constituency of
Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford, Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of ...
, a town closely associated with , wrote to the U.S. president
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, who acknowledged that the film's plot was only a work of fiction. The director of the local Horsforth Museum lamented the rewriting of history, saying: "You can't rewrite history and we have to pass on the facts to the younger generation through the schools." The first capture of a naval Enigma machine with its cipher keys from a U-boat was made on 9 May 1941 by of the Royal Navy, commanded by Captain Joe Baker-Cresswell assisted by . The U-boat was . In 1942, the Royal Navy also seized , capturing additional Enigma codebooks. According to Britain's
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, "the captured codebooks provided vital assistance to British cryptographers such as
Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
, at the code-breaking facility of
Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
." The United States' involvement in the European Theatre of the Second World War did not commence until mid-1941 with
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
, and direct, open participation did not begin until the U.S. Navy began engaging the Kriegsmarine in the fall of 1941, months before Pearl Harbor, by which time Enigma machines had already been captured and their codes broken in Europe. An earlier military Enigma had been examined by
Polish Intelligence This article covers the history of Polish Intelligence services dating back to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Commonwealth Though the first official Polish government service entrusted with espionage, intelligence and counter-intelligence w ...
in 1928; the
Polish Cipher Bureau The Cipher Bureau, in Polish language, Polish: ''Biuro Szyfrów'' (), was the interwar Polish General Staff's Second Department of Polish General Staff, Second Department's unit charged with SIGINT and both cryptography (the ''use'' of ciphers an ...
broke the Enigma code in 1932 and gave their findings to Britain and France in 1939, just before the
German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
. Sub Lt. David Balme, the Royal Navy officer who led the boarding party on ''U-110'', called ''U-571'', "a great film" and said that it would not have been financially viable without being ''"americanised"''. The film's producers did not agree to his request for a statement that it was a work of fiction, but the
end credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of ...
dedicate the film to the "Allied sailors and officers who risked their lives capturing Enigma materials" during the Second World War. The credits acknowledge the Royal Navy's role in capturing Enigma machines and code documents from ''U-110'', '' U-559'' and the U.S. Navy's capture of ''U-505''. In 2006, screenwriter
David Ayer David Ayer (born January 18 , 1968) is an American filmmaker known for making crime films that are set in Los Angeles and deal with gangs and police corruption. His screenplays include ''Training Day'' (2001), ''The Fast and the Furious'' (2001 ...
admitted that ''U-571'' had distorted history, and said that he would not do it again. He told
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''The Film Programme'' that he "did not feel good" about suggesting that Americans, rather than the British, had captured the naval Enigma cipher: "It was a distortion...a mercenary decision...to create this parallel history in order to drive the film for an American audience. Both my grandparents were officers in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and I would be personally offended if somebody distorted their achievements."


Technical inaccuracies

The
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
destroyers In navy, naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a Naval fleet, fleet, convoy or Carrier battle group, battle group and defend them against powerful short range attack ...
rarely ventured out into the open Atlantic Ocean, but usually stayed in European coastal waters. During the destroyer's
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
attack more than eighty depth charges are detonated in the film, despite the fact that they rarely carried more than thirty. The German resupply U-boat would most likely not have been sunk by ''U-571''. This would have been difficult for a German U-boat to achieve, as German
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
was not as advanced as British during the war. The only instance of a submerged submarine sinking another submerged vessel was in February 1945 when sank with torpedoes. German Type XIV supply U-boats or ''Milchkühe'' ("milk cows") did not have
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s or
deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...
s, being armed only with anti-aircraft guns for defense, and therefore could not have attacked other vessels. One character mentions sinking in a test dive. The real ''S-26'' did not sink in a test dive, instead sinking in a collision with a patrol combatant, , in January 1942.


Inaccurate portrayal of U-boat sailors

The film portrays U-boat sailors machine-gunning Allied merchant crewmen who have survived their ship's sinking, so that they are not able to report the U-boat's position. In reality, U-boat crewmen are far more often known to have assisted survivors with food, directions and occasionally medical aid. Such assistance only stopped after Admiral
Karl Dönitz Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...
issued the " Laconia order" following a U.S. air attack on U-boats transporting injured survivors under a
Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
flag in 1942. German U-boat crews were thereafter under War Order No. 154 not to rescue survivors, which parallelled Allied policy. Afterward, U-boats still occasionally provided aid for survivors. In fact, out of several thousand sinkings of merchant ships in World War II, there is only one case of a U-boat's crew deliberately attacking the survivors: that of after the sinking of the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
ship ''Peleus'' in 1944.


Actual fates of ''U-571'', ''S-33'' and ''Z-49''

The actual , captained by ''
Oberleutnant zur See ''Oberleutnant zur See'' (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF-1 in NATO. The rank was introduced in the Imper ...
'' Gustav Lüssow, was never involved in any such events, was not captured, but was in fact lost with all hands on 28 January 1944, west of
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. She was hit by
depth charges A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use h ...
, dropped from a
Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...
Mk III flying boat, ''EK577'', callsign "D for Dog", belonging to No. 461 Squadron,
Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF) and based at
RAF Pembroke Dock Royal Air Force Pembroke Dock or more simply RAF Pembroke Dock was a Royal Air Force Seaplane and Flying Boat station located at Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The Royal Navy contingent left in 1926 with the Royal Air Force occupying the ...
in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. The aircraft's commander, Flt Lt Richard Lucas, reported that most of the U-boat's 52 crew managed to abandon ship, but all died from
hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
. The real was stationed in the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
from June 1942 until the end of the war. She was sold for scrap in 1946. The
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
destroyer ''Z-49'' was ordered on 12 June 1943 but never laid down, let alone completed and sailed.


See also

*
Submarine films The submarine film is a subgenre of war film in which the majority of the plot revolves around a submarine below the ocean's surface. Films of this subgenre typically focus on a small but determined crew of submariners battling against enemy sub ...
* History of cryptology – World War II cryptology


References


Sources

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External links

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''U-571''
at the
TCM Movie Database Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...
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BBC Movies 11 January 2001: ''U-571 (2000)''

BBC Movies: ''American Histories - How The War Wasn't Won''

The Guardian, 26 February 2009: ''U-571: You give historical films a bad name''
{{DEFAULTSORT:U-571 2000 films 2000s action war films American action war films Films about anti-fascism English-language French films French action films StudioCanal films Universal Pictures films U-boat fiction World War II submarine films Films that won the Best Sound Editing Academy Award Films directed by Jonathan Mostow Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis Films produced by Martha De Laurentiis Films with screenplays by David Ayer Films about submarine warfare Films about the United States Navy Films set in the Atlantic Ocean Film controversies Film controversies in the United States French war drama films French World War II films 2000s American films 2000s French films