World War II · Film · 2020
Greyhound
On his first wartime command, a US Navy commander leads four escorts guarding a 37-ship convoy through the mid-Atlantic gap, where no aircraft can reach them and a U-boat wolfpack is waiting.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 2 places.
Stop 1: Mid-Atlantic gap ('Black Pit')
Key location
For days without air cover, Greyhound hunts U-boats by sonar, rescues survivors and rations its last depth charges while the wolfpack strikes at night.
Stop 2: Western Approaches
Exhausted and short of fuel and ammunition, the escorts push the surviving ships toward the range of British aircraft and Liverpool.
What really happened
Adapted by Tom Hanks from C. S. Forester's novel The Good Shepherd, the film is set in the 'Black Pit', the stretch of mid-ocean beyond the range of land-based aircraft where U-boat wolfpacks did most of their killing. In 1942, the worst year of the Battle of the Atlantic for the Allies, U-boats sank more than a thousand merchant ships.
The gap was only closed in 1943 by very long range Liberator bombers and escort carriers, together with better radar and code-breaking. Convoy HX-25 and the USS Keeling are fictional, and the film's Fletcher-class destroyer could not have sailed in February 1942: the first ship of the class was commissioned only that June.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- Greyhound
- Directed by
- Aaron Schneider
- Countries
- United States
- Languages
- English, German
- Released
- 2020
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Atlantic & Arctic
- Themes
- Naval
- Combat
