Submarine X-1
Encyclopedia
Submarine X-1 is a 1969 British World War II
war film loosely based on the Operation Source
attack on the German battleship Tirpitz
in 1943. In the film James Caan
stars as Lt. Commander Richard Bolton, who must lead a group of midget submarines
in an attack on a German battleship.
. His mission is to quickly train crews to man the submarines and sink the Lindendorf while it is hidden away in a Norwegian
fiord.
The film progresses with Commander Bolton training the crews of the three submarines. He must overcome tensions with some of his former crew members, while keeping their activities hidden from outsiders and German planes. The crews successfully fend off an attack by German commando
s, who discover their base. Bolton is forced to make hasty preparations for his attack before their submarine base can be destroyed.
Two of the submarines are lost while attempting to cut through submarine nets at the entrance to the fiord. One submarine crew is captured and taken to the German battleship for interrogation
. The surviving submarine penetrates the submarine nets in the fiord and places explosives under the German battleship. The submarine then manages to escape as the battleship explodes. The film concludes as the battleship sinks.
s with elliptical windows. The frogmen in the real war operation mostly used Sladen suit
s and an early type of Siebe Gorman
rebreather
.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
war film loosely based on the Operation Source
Operation Source
Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lutzow – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines....
attack on the German battleship Tirpitz
German battleship Tirpitz
Tirpitz was the second of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April...
in 1943. In the film James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
stars as Lt. Commander Richard Bolton, who must lead a group of midget submarines
Midget submarine
A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to 6 or 8, with little or no on-board living accommodation...
in an attack on a German battleship.
Plot
The film begins with Commander Bolton and a few surviving crew members of his 50-man submarine Gauntlet swimming ashore after unsuccessfully attacking German battleship Lindendorf. After a review, Captain Bolton is cleared of any wrongdoing and placed in charge of a small group of experimental X class submarinesX class submarine
The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44.Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size 'mother' submarine - - with a passage crew on board, the operational crew...
. His mission is to quickly train crews to man the submarines and sink the Lindendorf while it is hidden away in a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
fiord.
The film progresses with Commander Bolton training the crews of the three submarines. He must overcome tensions with some of his former crew members, while keeping their activities hidden from outsiders and German planes. The crews successfully fend off an attack by German commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
s, who discover their base. Bolton is forced to make hasty preparations for his attack before their submarine base can be destroyed.
Two of the submarines are lost while attempting to cut through submarine nets at the entrance to the fiord. One submarine crew is captured and taken to the German battleship for interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
. The surviving submarine penetrates the submarine nets in the fiord and places explosives under the German battleship. The submarine then manages to escape as the battleship explodes. The film concludes as the battleship sinks.
Equipment errors
The film's frogmen's equipment was very wrong and anachronistic. The breathing sets shown were open-circuit and were merely a very fat cylinder crosswise across the belly, with a black single-hose second-stage regulator such as was not invented until the 1960's. Also shown were ordinary sport scuba weight belts and ordinary eyes-and-nose diving maskDiving mask
A diving mask is an item of diving equipment that allows scuba divers, free-divers, and snorkelers to see clearly underwater. When the human eye is in direct contact with water as opposed to air, its normal environment, light entering the eye is refracted by a different angle and the eye is unable...
s with elliptical windows. The frogmen in the real war operation mostly used Sladen suit
Sladen Suit
The Sladen Suit was a heavy type of British divers' drysuit made by Siebe Gorman. It is entered by a wide rubber tube at the umbilicus: this tube is folded and tied off before the diver dives. It was used by British manned torpedo riders and for general underwater work.It was sometimes nicknamed...
s and an early type of Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd was a British company which developed diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on commercial diving and marine salvage projects...
rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
.
See also
- Above Us the WavesAbove Us the Waves (film)Above Us the Waves is a 1955 war film directed by Ralph Thomas. It tells the story of human torpedo and midget submarine attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz. It is based on true-life attacks on the Tirpitz, first using manned torpedoes , and then the Royal Navy's midget X-Craft submarines in...
is a similar film about the true-life submarine attacks on the Tirpitz. - Operation SourceOperation SourceOperation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lutzow – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines....
details the use of X class submarineX class submarineThe X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44.Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size 'mother' submarine - - with a passage crew on board, the operational crew...
s against German battleships in World War II.
External links
- Submarine X-1 at Yahoo! MoviesYahoo! MoviesYahoo! Movies , provided by the Yahoo! network, is home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Yahoo! Movies also includes red carpet photos, actor galleries, and production...