John Wayne's boat gets depth charged, right above the deck, and all everyone feels on board is a small tremor as if it were a minor annoyance...
Compare that to the depth charging in Das Boot or other Submarine films...
you ever been depth charged ?
no ?
when you do, tell us which one is more accurate..
lets see 1951 cinema effects... vs. 1981 cinema effects..
nuff said.
-- 'you're a good man, sister.' Humphrey Bogart
Water is an uncompressible liquid. In reality, a depth charge that close to the submarine would have been much more devastating than depicted in the film.
You don't have to have been depth-charged to know that. It's simple physics. So they were taking some literary/dramatic license there. After all, we can't get the hero killed right away, along w/all those cute kiddies and the nuns.
Another example of dramatic license is the fact that there was actually more than one problem with those torpodoes up until they corrected the problems in late '43; but they didn't want to take the time in the film to go into the details of all that. So they just chose something simple, like the firing pins, to demonstrate it.
There were actually at least three problems with the Mark 14 submarine-launched torpedo (one of which was shared w/ the Mark 10):
1. Running depth. (a.) Warheads were heavier than test heads. The wartime torpedo ran with a head down trim. The shore establishment eventually acknowledged a four foot error in running depths. Fleet tests in Australia found an 11 foot depth error. It was not until August '42 that a compromise of 10' was agreed upon, and a trim repair kit was issued to the fleet later in that year. (b.) The depth sensor was designed for a slower running torpedo. The pressure gradient over the torpedo surface at higher speeds gave the wrong feedback. The sensor was later relocated to a neutral position.
2. The magnetic exploder was designed in the northern latitudes and did not work as well at the equator. The British and Germans had already disabled their magnetic exploders before the US navy ordered theirs disabled in late '43. ComSubSWPac had participated in the development of the magnetic exploder, knew the principle was sound, and resisted disablement until December '43.
3. The conventional contact exploder was designed for the earlier, slower, 33-knot Mk 13 torpedo. The newer, faster, 46-knot Mk 14 torpedo had higher inertial impacts that would cause the firing pin to miss the exploder cap.
Interesting info, pt100, thanks for posting.
Just my opinion, but I too think those some of depth charges exploded too close to the boat and yet do so little damage. But as said, you can't kill the hero's at the start of film, else she'd be a 10 minute movie.
-B!LL!
Even today, most war movies have to 'compress' the action to fit it on screen. (eg squads going into action bunched so close together they could be taken out by a single grenade. Or ten man 'platoons' and thirty man 'regiments'.)
When I see this scene (or any similar scene from a sub movie), I am immediately reminded of Wolfgang Otto's 1957 novel Sharks and Little Fish, based on his experiences during WWII (which I have only read in the heavily condensed Reader's Digest version).
The main character, Hans Teichmann goes to a cinema in which a propaganda newsreel is lauding the exploits of the U-boats in the Atlantic. When it shows a 'depth charge' exploding next to a model submarine and an explosion comes over the soundtrack, all the submariners in the audience get up and walk out. Teichmann wonders what would happen if the audience were exposed to the real sound of a depth charge exploding fifty feet from a submarine - possibly not the morale boost the makers were hoping for.
Not only that ... there were at least a half dozen DC's ... and an extensive damage report ... yet suddenly they are in hot pursuit of a destroyer and then find an unguarded (WTF) carrier. That was believable!
share