The German ship in the movie looks like a destroyer, and they say in the movie it is one, when they spot it first. The Germans had sonar, after all it was invented during World War One already, even though I don't think it was used operationally back then. So by World War 2 it was no secret. The Germans had it, no question about it, and a destroyer would without a doubt have it, they are submarine killers. Check Uboat.net or whatever site you want. So that was no goof.
It is true however that the German destroyer force took horrible losses during the invasion of Norway, and that German destroyers usually didn't venture very far out into the open Atlantic ocean - I don't know if they ever did.
However, we are supposed to be close to England - they say right after picking up the survivors that "we could put you ashore in England, but that would be a 300 mile detour". That would be very close to England, and possibly to German bases in occupied France, maybe only a few hours out from base for the Germans. So it is not totally unbelievable that a German destroyer turns up and starts chasing them with sonar.
The sub is obviously a Gato class, a big American sub. It looks convincing to me. I've been aboard the museum sub Nordkaparen, that's a Draken class sub from Sweden, which was a class of subs in service during WW2, and it doesn't look that terribly different from the sub in the movie. The Nordkaparen was more cramped than the sub in the movie, that's true. Of course, the Draken class was only 66 meters (200 feet) long, and had a 35 men wartime crew. The Gato class was 95 meters (300 feet) long, and had a 80 men wartime crew. So I guess a big Gato class sub would seem a lot less cramped than one of those dinky Draken class ones. The movie seems convincing to me, when it comes to portraying the sub itself.
I was told during my visit to Nordkaparen, and also by a colleague who used to serve as an officer on a Västergötland class sub in the Swedish navy (much more recently than WW2), that the discipline on a sub generally is different from that of a surface ship. Not less discipline, but different. More like in a sports team, like in a football team or whatever. The distance between captain and sailor is shorter, the atmosphere less formal. The atmosphere on the sub in "Below" wasn't totally unreal to me, I've served in the armed forces myself (Kustartilleriet in Sweden - an amphibious force with an interesting mix of naval and army equipment) so I have some experience of what it means to be a private working in an informal atmosphere alongside officers. But they sure did seem to have some kind of serious attitude problem on that sub in the movie - she was never a happy ship to begin with. But I suppose that might happen sometimes, that discipline breaks down. So the movie seems acceptable to me, at least, when it comes to portraying the crew. Not the best of crews, I'd expect better of a US Navy Gato class crew, but not totally beyond belief.
So I agree with tobyl-1 that this movie is way underrated, even if I don't agree about the German lack of sonar - they did have sonar! Minor gripe, no offense intended.
Anyway, considering it really isn't a war movie, but a horror movie, it is still a very good u-boat movie!
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