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Well I thought when a u-boat was depth-charged it would just sink and the crew would drown or get out luckily. No blood or carnage, right?










WRONG! After seeing U-571, I could see that people were being blown up or singed in an inferno! It was pretty horrible seeing a mechanic's burnt corpse lying in the engine room between the two diesels.

Drowning is probably an even worse way to die than burning to death though?

But I just wanted to say that it was unusual for that sort of thing when I always thought that it wasn't bloody.

If you want to really know what WWII submarine warfare was really like read Das Boot. That'll clarify the horror for you. All those U-boat/submarine crews were very brave men.

Ozzy is right. Read Das Boot, gives a much clear and disturbing picture.


A.

And don't take any Hollywood war movies for serious.

The Heretic, he speaks the truth!

Sorry to bring up "Castles of Steel" but there is a passage where a British destroyer drops depth charges on a U-boat.  The boat is damaged, can barely move, scraping along the bottom.  Silence.  Then a sharp sound is heard over the echo locators in the RN destroyer - as that made by a pistol shot.  Then another, and another ... .finally, after 28 , complete silence.

To this day, I think that anyone who serves in submarines has ... "enlarged gonads".

Most common cause of death in the submarine service...

Burning.

Drowning is rather uncommon, strange as it may seem. You see, when a deeply submerged sub starts taking on water it rapidly pressurizes and this raises the air temperature rapidly. The temperature raises well above fatal levels before the water gets high enough for drowning to take place.

I saw video of a test once...very bizzare.

I thought it was suffocation. Whatever the cause, it's not a pleasant thought. There's no way you would get me in a sub, never mind go to war in one. Those crews were/are all very brave men. IMHO

Brave or bonkers...to screw yourself into a steel coffin and sink is a very biazarre way to make a living!

Dedicated lads though, my hat's off to them.

I am reading Das Boot. It's a good read.

I would never get into a u-boat. I would go for patrols in peacetime, but I wouldn't dare face a Brit destroyer, even if I got a million (or more) dollars to do so.

So the temperature got above fatal levels? So then did the sub explode into flames or what?

I don't know if this was Hollywood (::)) or not, but here's something:

"Packing the emotional wallop of a deadly accurate depth charge and filled with as much tension as any two hour movie can withstand" --The Hollywood Reporter

Err..does Universal have something to do with anything?

So the temperature got above fatal levels? So then did the sub explode into flames or what?

I think it's fatal to the crew, not the submarine.

I would never get into a u-boat. I would go for patrols in peacetime, but I wouldn't dare face a Brit destroyer, even if I got a million (or more) dollars to do so.

If the commander and crew were like in 'Das Boot', I'd go anytime.

What happens at high temperatures depends on the materials.

For example, at 451

Hey, did the narrator die in Das Boot? I never could work it out....



A.

Hey, did the narrator die in Das Boot? I never could work it out....

He survived.