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waterfield
One of the things I found interesting and very likely true but not mentioned anywhere is that so many battles w/ the U boats were on the surface. I suspect that if the seas where as rough as depicted in the movie it would be extremely difficult for a submerged U boat to get an accurate reading on both a moving target and very rough surface water that would impact the periscope.
All in all a very good movie. For the German perspective nothing beats the German version of "Das Boot".
Wolf pack tactics dictated being on the surface. They would infiltrate conveys at night when they were barely visible if at all. U boats were very slow underwater (that is what Hanks's character means when he signals the convoy rescue ship that he drove a sub under so the ship could out run the sub).
This is from a source on that:
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the best results came from attacks at night, made from the surface. U-boats were very slow underwater, but at the surface, the Type VII U-boats could approach 18 knots, which was twice the speed of many convoys, and sometimes proved faster than the escort vessels. This, combined with the U-boat’s low profile, permitted the infiltration of many convoys, allowing the officers to select the best available targets.
