Lieutenant Werner is a war correspondent on the German submarine U-96 in October 1941. He is driven by her captain and chief engineer to a … See more

In late 1941, war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim joined U-96 for her 7th patrol, during the Battle of the Atlantic. His orders were to photograph and describe the U-boat in action. … See more

The film opened 17 September 1981 and received the widest release ever in West Germany, opening in 220 theatres and grossing a record … See more

Critical response
The film received highly positive reviews upon its release. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars. Prior to the 55th Academy Awards on 11 April 1983 the movie received six … See more

• Jürgen Prochnow as Kapitänleutnant (abbr. "Kaleun", German pronunciation: [kaˈlɔɪ̯n]) and also called "Der Alte" ("the Old Man") by his crew: A 30 … See more

Wolfgang Petersen created the film based on Buchheim's novel of the same name with several alterations to the plot and characters. See more

Petersen has overseen the creation of several different versions. The first to be released was the 149-minute theatrical cut.
As the film received partial financing by West German … See more