Vol. 9 No. 4, April, 2013

Recently in an email conversation with another WWI naval enthusiast, the topic turned to subchaser movies -- and a suggestion that I post some notes on chaser movies in the next Subchaser Archives Notes issue.

As you might guess, there aren't lots of movies that feature WWI-era submarine chasers, but there are a few. Unfortunately, none of them, as far as I know, can be purchased in official release form, in any format. But there are some other sources for copies of some of these. The quality will be relatively poor, fairly low-resolution digital copies of some old tape -- but if you want to see film showing 110' chasers built in the WWI time frame, running, these are worth hunting down.

Disclaimer: These are all pretty corny. Watch them to see the boats, and don't expect too much in terms of plot or screenplay. Here are a few, with links to the IMDB page:

Submarine Patrol - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030808/
  This one is supposedly based on Ray Millholland's book, Splinter Fleet, but very loosely …
Midshipman Jack - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024336/
  Includes footage of WWI chasers from the US Naval Academy
Thunder Afloat - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032034/
  Lots of good chaser views, although the interior shots look like sets to me.

See if you can find them, and enjoy!

--Todd Woofenden, editor

Fine Print

To receive the Subchaser Archives Notes via email, use the signup form here. The Notes are posted monthly. If you have non-commercial messages (on topic) for the next Subchaser Archives Notes, submit them to the Subchaser Archives Editor.