The Enemy Below

The Enemy Below is a 1957 war film which tells the story of the battle between the captain of an American destroyer escort and the commander of a German Uboat during World War II. The movie stars Robert Mitchum and Curt Jrgens and was directed and produced by Dick Powell. The film was based on a novel by Denys Rayner, a British naval officer involved in antisubmarine warfare throughout the Battle of the Atlantic.

The American Buckleyclass destroyer escort USS Haynes detects and attacks a German Uboat that is on its way to rendezvous with a German merchant raider in the South Atlantic Ocean. Captain Murrell Robert Mitchum, a former officer in the merchant marine now an active duty lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve, has recently taken command of the Haynes, even though he is still recovering from injuries incurred in the sinking of his previous ship. Before the Uboat is first spotted, one sailor questions the new captains fitness and ability. However, as the battle begins, Murrell shows himself to be a match for wily Uboat Kapitn von Stolberg Curt Jrgens portrayed as not being enamoured with the Nazi regime in a prolonged and deadly battle of wits that tests both men and their crews. Each man grows to respect his opponent.Murrell skillfully stalks the Uboat and subjects von Stolberg and his crew to multiple depth charge attacks. In the end, von Stolberg takes advantage of a moment of vulnerability in Murrells pattern of attacks and succeeds in torpedoing the destroyer. The destroyer is mortally wounded but still battle capable. However, Murrell has one last trick up his sleeve. He orders his men to set fires on the deck to make the ship look more damaged than it actually is. Then he orders the majority of his crew to evacuate in the life boats. But he keeps a skeleton crew on board to man the bridge, engine room, and one of his ships threeinch guns. As Murrell had hoped, von Stolberg decides to torpedo on the surface on what he perceives to be a crippled ship. Murrell orders his gun crew to fire thus knocking the Uboats main deck gun out of action. Murrell orders his executive officer, Lt. Ware Al Hedison, to steer the ship toward the Uboat at flank speed and ram it. With his boat crippled, Von Stolberg orders his crew to set the scuttling charges and abandon ship. ........

Source: Wikipedia