In the 1934 unabashedly patriotic b&w feature North in the Atlantic, Humphrey Bogart is Joe Rossi, 1st Officer on Sea Witch, a Liberty Ship which climatically slices in half a particularly nasty U-boot which has dogged him and his crew throughout. Problem is, doesn't look much like any U-boat I've seen. Am I off base?
Maybe an italian one they have similar looking turrets on their atlantic boats! Not sure but.... Regards Ulrich
No, your not off base. Thats not your typical type VII C or Type IX Unterseeboot. After looking at the trivia behind the movie on Internet Movie Database, it might be just a model created rather crudely. But we should see the opinions of the sub experts here to be for sure! Here is the link to the movie trivia: Action in the North Atlantic (1943) - Trivia Thanks for posting. I have never seen the movie but I want to watch it now!
No it is most likely a re-use of an American submarine model. Early style sail with those "flaps" on the sides are a give-away. Examples( from http://www.navsource.org ) USS Cachalot USS Cuttlefish USS Dolphin USS Perch
It looks like models, the anchors on the "liberty" are oversized and despite the popaganda value I very much doubt the USN or RN would make a captured U-Boat available to Holliwood in 1943, assuming there were already any they would be much too valuable for intelligence and ASW training.
I agree the sub looks like one of the early American fleet boats. The superstructure, which included an enclosed bridge for surface operations, was cut down during the war reduce their silhoutte and provide positions for automatic weapons. The movie did not pay a great deal of attention to authenticity; one of the escorting destroyers is Japanese, Kagero class or similar.
Bad model of a Gato class boat, before they took to cutting back the conning tower and losing the periscope shroud.
Sorry Gromit801, It is not a bad model of the Gato class. The Gato's sail was totally different. 1. The periscope shears were enclosed, these are not. 2. The Gato class did not have a light above the holder for the ship's bell. This does. 3. The Gato class did not have the rounded metal shields on either side of the periscopes. 4. The roof of the Gato class sail was free of obstructions. In the mystery submarine you can see a vent cover and what appears to be a radio antenna outlet. 5. The cutout of the rear of the sail was sharp, the mystery submarine has a gradual, almost oval like cutout. Also, the Gato class sail cutout was did not go that deep. 6. The deck gun appears to be a 4 inch/50 cal, the early Gatos were usually fitted with the 3inch/50cal, a completely different gun. Upon closer inspection, the sail is a close match to that of the USS Dolphin(SS-169) http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/0816901.jpg
Like I said, it was a bad model. MOST hollywood models from that time were pretty bad, and inaccurate. Good grief, just look at some of the depictions of aircraft in movies back then. The Gatos were pretty well transformed as they went through the war. But the model is pretty close to the original Gato layout. In this case I would wager the model makers took a look at the closest they had on hand, probably a photo from Life magazine or something, and made their "U-Boat." They habitually took a lot of liberties, and didn't strive for accuracy.
I disagree with you Takao, the USS Dolphin has a rodor on the side of the tower. This picture also has a anti- aircraft gun between the bow of the ship and the tower; the USS Dolphin did not.
It bears a bit of resemblance to the Soviet S class and they have a number of subs with enclosed conning towers like that (for weather). But, I can't find an exact match.
I am still with Takao on this one. Perhaps we should think like a Hollywood producer of that era, how far and how much research would you do on this. It would be far easier to contact a USN public affairs officer and say we are making a movie about a U-boat and a liberty ship could you help us out? A Gato class would be cutting edge, I don't think the navy would want on screen for all to see.
