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1. Explain what a wolf pack was.

A "wolf pack" was the gathering together of as many U-Boots as possible, hopefully to launch so many attacks on the target that its escorting warships would not be able to cope.

 

 

2. Germany conquered Norway and France in 1940. What advantage did this give the Germans in the submarine war, the "Battle for the Atlantic?"

 After Germany conquered France and Norway, they could base their submarines in ports in both countries. This cut hundreds of miles off the distance from German ports to the Atlantic, and extended the time in which U-Boots could prowl before heading home for more fuel, food and weapons.

 

 

3. What are ballast tanks, and why are they important on a submarine?

Tanks around the outside of the pressure hull which could be flooded with sea water to dive, and then blown empty with compressed air so that the submarine could surface.

 

 

4. What were a submarine's main weapons?

 Torpedos

 

 

5. The type of submarine that you will see in the movie is a Type VIIC. Approximately how many men and officers served on that type of submarine?

The crew of a Type VIIC U-Boot was 44 officers and men. The figure mentioned in the movie was 50 men.

 

 

6. Explain what the trim of a submarine is!

The balance of the submarine when submerged is refered to as the "trim." Every man had his working space, and when the boat was submerged, uncontrolled movement was strictly forbidden because of the need to preserve the submarine's trim.

 

 

7. The crew of a submarine was ecstatic if they were able to capture a merchant marine ship. Why was this considered such a prize?

U-Boot crews longed to capture refrigerated, food-carrying merchant ships whose cargos were filled with delicious fresh meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables - but such prizes of war were rare.

 

 

8. What is asdic?

Warships hunting for submarines used sonar (known as asdic to the British) to detect U-Boots under water.

 

 

 

9. Several scenes at the beginning and end of the movie take place in an armored U-Boot pen on the coast of France. Explain what an armored U-Boot pen is!

An armored U-Boot pen was a huge protected U-Boot base. These pens gave U-Boots all the safety they needed to make repairs and take on fuel, food, water and more torpedos. Covered with layers of concrete up to 24 feed thick, the pens were bomb-proof.

 

 

 

10. After a German submarine sighted a convoy of ships, the submarine would remain on the surface for as long as possible. Why?

 An U-Boot sighting a convoy would try to remain on the surface for as long as possible for three reasons:

• A submarine could travel faster on the surface since it could use its diesel engines. (Only the electric motors could be used when submerged.)
• Sonar could not be used to detect the position of submarines on the surface; it only worked when the submarines were submerged.
• Most importantly, the first U-Boot to sight a convoy would immediately send a radio report to the U-Boot headquarters. The admiral's staff would then signal to all U-Boots in the area and order them to steer toward the convoy. This was known as the process of "forming a wolf pack," the gathering together of as many U-Boots as possible, hopefully to launch so many attacks on the convoy that its escorting warships would not be able to cope.

 

 

 

 

 

11. Autumn 1940: World WW II is in its second year. This particular time period was referred to as The Happy Time by the German U-Boot fleet. Explain why.

 During this time, the German U-Boot fleet was sinking (literally) tons of merchant shipping every day. It was the peak of their success in the war of the Atlantic.

 

 

 

12. Why did most submarine commanders prefer to attack at night and on the surface?

•  Sonar, the only British method of locating submarines, only worked against submerged submarines. It was useless against submarines that remained on the surface.
• On the surface, too, the U-Boots had the advantage of the greater speed of their diesel engines.

 

 

 

13. Who were Günther Prien, Joachim Schepke, and Otto Kretschmer?

Three of Germany's most famous top-scoring submarine commanders. 

 

 

 

14. If an attacking submarine was spotted by a warship, its only chance for survival was to crash-drive and escape the sonar of its attacker. There were three primary tactics for escaping sonar:

• The commander could order the submarine to dive deep, beyond sonar range.
• He could order the "silent routine": total silence with engines switched off.
• He could release a pill of chemicals which produced a dense patch of bubbles which the sonar could detect - like a scared octopus squirting a cloud of ink to fool an enemy.

 

 

 

15. Explain what a depth-charge is!

Known as the "Wasserbombe" in German, these were bombs that could be set to explode at different depths. Even a close near-miss from a depth-charge could cause so much damage that the only chance was to blow all ballast tanks, rise to the surface and hope to fight it out gun to gun.

 

 

 

16. What happened during March of 1941?

This was the first major setback for the German U-Boot fleet: two top submarine commanders killed and one captured within the space of only 10 days. It marked the turning point for the Germans in the War of the Atlantic.