MovieChat Forums > The Cruel Sea (1953) Discussion > COMPASS ROSE

COMPASS ROSE

posted 19 years ago by smiley-39
10 replies | jump to latest

As a point of interest the real name of the Flower Class corvette in this movie was, HMS CROCUS (K-49). She saw action off Freetown Sierra Leone West Africa in 1942. So Freetown being a assembly point and anchorage for allied convoys naturally attracted U-Boats.

During total darkness CROCUS, under the command of a New Zealander J. F. Holm; who in peacetime was a Merchant Marine Officer, sniffed out and picked an argument with U-333, which was lurking on the surface looking for a kill. She managed to ram the U-Boat abaft the conning tower. The U-Boat broke loose and scraped down the corvette's port side, punching a hole in her at the water line. CROCUS rammed her again, but no luck. The U-Boat like its wounded skipper, Peter Cremer, was a tough cookie. She slipped away in the tropical darkness and shaped a course for the U-Boat pens on the French Biscay Coast. U-333 was later lost with all hands off the Isles of Scilly, near Lands End. Anyone out there who is interested can find more information about U-333 on www.uboat.net. It's a website with a mine of information about the German Navy's U-Boat fleet in World War Two.

I have just been breezing through the trivia of, "The Cruel Sea". It was not the above mentioned Flower Class corvette. It was indeed HMS COREOPSIS K32. Then transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy and renamed RHN KRIEZIS from 1943 to 1952. She was decommisioned and returned to Sunderland, UK, for scrapping in 1952.
All the best, smiley-39

[–] andrew-jones5 19 years ago

Thanks for that mate.

[–] hathaway-2 19 years ago

For someone into the history, one thing so interesting about "The Cruel Sea" is that the career of the fictional "HMS Compass Rose" is very typical for these ships during the Battle Of The Atlantic.
The author of the book, Nicholas Monsarrat, was an officer aboard HMS Campanula (K-18).
During the war, he wrote three short books; "H.M. Corvette", "East Coast Corvette", and "Corvette Command", all non fiction. They are still available under the title "Three Corvettes" along with some of his short stories.
Many of the incidents described in these books were used in "The Cruel Sea" when he wrote it.
I have always thought of "Das Boot",and "The Cruel Sea" as being two very realistic portrayals of opposing sides of the same battle.-

Compass Rose sends

[–] hey_ho_lets_go69 18 years ago

Have to agree about The Cruel Sea and Das Boot being excellent portrayals of the Battle of the Atlantic on both sides, was thinking about them complementing each other perfectly whilst watching The Cruel Sea last night

[–] jdrusk 13 years ago

Add the film "Enigma" to those two and you can come to a decent understanding of the Battle of the North Atlantic.

[–] taipan-12 19 years ago

But what ship was "Saltash Castle"?

[–] Chris_M_NZ 18 years ago

Saltash Castle was a Castle Class corvette. The ship used for making the movie was HMS Porchester Castle. In Monsarrats book he portrays a River Class frigate as the second ship. The movie makers may not have been able to lay their hands one one so used a Castle instead. Reportedly these were a pig of a ship to handle, a lot bigger than a Flower but with the same 2800 horsepower and only one screw. Refer D. A. Rayner's book 'Escort' for a better description of a Castle.

[–] TorontoJediMaster 17 years ago

I thought Saltash Castle was supposed to be frigate, or even a destroyer. She was obviously to be in command of a convoy, with Ericson as senior officer over the other corvette captains.

[–] hathaway-2 15 years ago

In the book, HMS Saltash was a River Class frigate, however during filming, none were available.
HMS Porchester Castle stood in for a River in the film, and HMS Saltash became HMS Saltash Castle.

[–] RbSnedlap 12 years ago

In the book, HMS Saltash was a River Class frigate, however during filming, none were available.
HMS Porchester Castle stood in for a River in the film, and HMS Saltash became HMS Saltash Castle.

I often wondered why they changed the name from the one in the book, even refering to it in the films dialogue.
Number 1: "I`ve never heard of a Saltash Castle" {or something like that anyway.)
Nice attention to detail from the film makers.

"Any plan that involves losing your hat is a BAD plan.""

[–] 12 years ago

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