MovieChat Forums > Das Boot (1982) Discussion > Age of the crew members?

Age of the crew members?

posted 8 years ago by teal123
5 replies | jump to latest

How old are the various crew supposed to be, and do they look to be a realistic representation of how U-boat crews really were?

My estimates are:

Captain: 38
Chief: 33
1st officer: 25
2nd officer: 23
Lt Werner: 27
Kid with pregnant gf: 15
Yohann: 28

Thomsen: 35

Then the rest of them look to be about college age.

[–] persen1 8 years ago

I don't think the guy with the pregnant French girlfriend is only 15 years old, most likely he is no less than 18 years old.
If he was only 15, he would still be in the Hitler Jugend and be stationed at one of the schools/training camps in Germany.

The rest of the crewmen are most likely 18-25 years of age. Some one like the actor Jan Fedder, was 26 years old when he starred in Das Boot.

[–] vincentcoventon 8 years ago

Wiki states that the Kaleun was 30 and the Chief 27 (although the actors who played the roles were 40 and 41 when the film was made)

[–] benth04 8 years ago

Most U-boot crew was under 25. A front Line officer of 35 was a very old man. The youngest Crew members were 16-17.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] LeParas-1 8 years ago

The youngest UBoat Commander was 20 years old and the oldest was 54 years old, he was also a WW1 Uboat veteran.

Here is a list of the youngest and the oldest UBoat Commanders:
http://uboat.net/men/commanders/youngest-oldest.html

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