World War II · Series · 2018–2023
Das Boot
A year after the original film, a young U-boat commander sails from La Rochelle on a mission that splits his crew, while a German translator in the port is drawn into the French Resistance; the war then follows them from New York to Lisbon, Kiel and Naples.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 7 places.
Stop 1: La Rochelle and La Pallice
Key location
Simone Strasser arrives as a translator just as her brother sails on U-612, and a Resistance cell asks her to choose a side.
Stop 2: North Atlantic
On his first patrol, Captain Hoffmann receives secret orders that turn his officers against him.
Stop 3: New York
Presumed dead, Hoffmann hides in New York with an American industrialist and falls for a jazz singer.
Stop 4: Kiel
New recruits, some of them former street kids, train for U-949 under an inexperienced commander.
Stop 5: Lisbon
In neutral Portugal, Hoffmann's father searches for his son while a Gestapo officer hunts a traitor in the German legation.
Stop 6: Strait of Gibraltar
Ordered into the Mediterranean, U-949 must run the gauntlet of Allied ships guarding the strait.
Stop 7: Naples
In the port of Naples, Hoffmann risks everything on a secret plan as the Allied invasion of Italy approaches.
What really happened
The series is set from late 1942, when the Battle of the Atlantic was turning. Bletchley Park had broken the four-rotor naval Enigma again in December 1942, and in May 1943, 'Black May', the Allies sank more than 40 U-boats and Dönitz withdrew his wolfpacks from the North Atlantic. French Atlantic ports such as La Rochelle lived under occupation, with resistance cells, Gestapo repression and giant concrete U-boat pens.
Its characters and boats are fictional, but its settings are real: neutral Lisbon was a hub for spies, refugees and Nazi gold, Kiel trained new U-boat crews, and in 1943 U-boats sent into the Mediterranean through Gibraltar suffered such losses that it was known as a mousetrap. The final season ends as the Allies prepare to land at Salerno in September 1943.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- Das Boot
- Created by
- Tony Saint, Johannes W. Betz
- Countries
- Germany
- Languages
- German, English, French
- Seasons
- 4 seasons
- Released
- 2018–2023
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Atlantic & Arctic, Western Europe, Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Naval
- Resistance
- Espionage
