submarine movies

Submarines in military service were used for the first time as early as 1775, but until 20th century they were merely novelties, the technology testers that had not much value for the navy. Of course their capability of stealth movement were perfect for reconnaissance missions - they could have just enter the enemy port and leave it without being spotted, but early submarines had very limited range, very limited speed, which made them barely useful for anything. Although even in late 19th century some submarines were armed with torpedoes, guns or machine guns, their construction and lack of power sources other than steam made them hard to build, operate, not to mention using it in combat. World War I changed the situation - German U-Boats were able to cruise through the waters around United Kingdom and attack British merchant navy, which had influence on the war (although not as much as during World War 2). The use of submarines against warships was still beyond technological reach - while lacking any support in calculating the torpedo track the effectiveness of attacks on moving targets was marginal. The most dynamic progress in submarine warfare was during World War II, when again Germany tried to cut Britain from supplies using their flotillas of U-Boats, this time with devastating effect. Improvement in submarine construction (diesel and electric power, multiple torpedo tubes, sonar, calculators) made them a deadly weapon, but at the same time started the arms race and improvement of anti-sub warfare. On Pacific American US Navy was down after attack on Pearl Harbor, until the power of Pacific Fleet was restored the submarine crews were slowing down the expansion of Japan over the area. First homing torpedoes were invented during World War II, although limited by technology and resources they did not make much change. After World War II nuclear power and nuclear weapons made the submarines one of the most important warships in any navy. Powered by nuclear reactors they can stay submerged for long time and travel around the world without need to resupply. The ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads made the modern submarines weapons that can attack any place in the world without being detected until they fire the weapons.

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1941 1979

Soon after attack on Pearl Harbor Japanese submarine surfaces near the coast of California. They are here to attack Hollywood... if they can find it.

U-571 2000

Americans send their submarine to intercept damaged U-571 and the Enigma machine that, in their minds, will change the face of the war.

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