Greyhound (2020) Trivia Quiz

Answer: C. S. Forester

Cecil Louis Troughton Smith was born in Cairo in 1899 but he moved to London before he started primary school. He adopted his pen name, C. S. Forester, when he began writing novels in his 20s. His 11 novels and five short stories featuring Horatio Hornblower were published from 1937 to 1967 and they told the fictional stories of the titular Royal Navy officer's exploits during the Napoleonic Wars.

While the Hornblower novels had a British protagonist during the 1800s, the lead of "The Good Shepherd", Commander Krause, was a member of the U.S. Navy during World War II. The novel tells the story of the battles the crew faced brought on by both war and the sea.

Answer: "Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead."

Earlier in the same speech Roosevelt states that the ships of the United States must be allowed safe passage across the seas and that they will be protected by the Navy. These ships were instrumental in transporting needed supplies and troops into Europe during World War II. However, the presence of German U-Boats and their deadly torpedoes were a constant threat to other nations' ships. Even so, Franklin Roosevelt boldly states that, "The goods will be delivered by this nation, whose navy believes in the tradition of damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

Interestingly, the origin of the this quote dates back to the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay during the U.S. Civil War in which admiral David Farragut made a daring statement to the USS Brooklyn after it started to retreat due to the threat of torpedoes. The actual quote was "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed." However, the U.S. Navy has smartly adopted the paraphrased quote in its vernacular. Farragut's bold and successful actions prompted President Abraham Lincoln to promote him to rear admiral, the most senior officer in the U.S. Navy at the time.

Answer: Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks was born in Concord, California in 1956 and in the 1980s he gained popularity by starring in the films "Splash" (1984), "The Money Pit" (1986), "Big" (1988) and "Turner and Hooch" (1989). During the 1990s Hanks won two Academy Awards for Best Actor and during the 2000s and 2010s he produced many of the films he starred in. In spite of his great dramatic and comedic roles, my favorite Tom Hanks films are his biographical and historical ones. Some well-known roles Hanks portrayed included astronaut Jim Lovell, army captain John Miller, Representative Charlie Wilson, entrepreneur Walt Disney and pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger.

While the Greyhound and Hanks's character Ernest Krause are fictional, the film is set during the historic Battle of the Atlantic that pitted the Allies against Nazi Germany on the open seas.

Answer: The seas were rough and he wanted visual confirmation rather than just radar.

Krause makes several orders to the crew that they are taken aback by including not firing when radar showed they were within firing range of the U-Boat. Krause's explanation was that the seas were too rough and that he wanted to see his target. The Greyhound's radar malfunctions on distance readings several times throughout the film as well which diminishes Krause's confidence in it.

The film depicts several minutes of tension while the Greyhound attempts to locate the U-Boat via sonar as Krause gives orders regarding the ship's bearing based on the maneuvers of the U-Boat. Eventually the U-Boat attempts to go under their ship but the Greyhound's sonar operative informs the crew in time so they can drop depth charge bombs in time to sink the U-Boat.

Answer: It was a sonar decoy that allowed the U-Boat to escape.

The Pillenwerfer was a device deployed by the U-Boat that rotated underwater in a stationary position. Its motion and size was detectable by the Greyhound's sonar equipment prompting the Greyhound's crew to think that it was the actual U-Boat wasting valuable ammunition and depth charges.

This decoy allowed the U-Boat time to escape before the Greyhound's crew realized that the sonar had picked up a Pillenwerfer rather than the actual U-Boat.

Answer: Dicky

The 37 ships of the convoy communicated with the Greyhound whenever they were under imminent threat. When Dicky radioed to Greyhound for assistance the U-Boat was within minimum sonar range. The U-Boat was able to get in the line of sight between Greyhound and Dicky making it too risky for Greyhound to try and attack. During this time the U-Boat was able to hit the Greyhound's port with a 44 caliber shot.

This caused a fire that ended up killing three crew members. Krause commands a funeral service for the three men and they are buried at sea.

Answer: Help

Knowing that the Germans may intercept a longer message, Krause discusses with Lieutenant Commander Charlie Cole what message they should send to the Admiralty. Cole recommends 'help needed' which Krause shortens to just 'help'. The Admiralty sends a scrambled response back to the Greyound instructing the convoy to meet at a rendezvous point in four hours.

Answer: Air Cover

At the beginning of "Greyhound" there are planes escorting but they soon leave as the ships enter an area where the planes can no longer provide support. This area, the 'Black Pit', was extremely dangerous as it was patrolled by U-Boats. The first countdown shows three days until Air Cover.

After Krause messages 'Help' to the Admiralty air support meets at the rendezvous point while the Greyhound is under attack and a fighter plane is able to sink the U-Boat.

Answer: It was his first crossing of the Atlantic as captain.

Krause wants to stay with the convoy but he is ordered to take the two damaged ships along with the Greyhound to Derry for repairs. Krause informs the Diamond's captain that they had sunk four U-Boats but that the convoy had lost seven ships. When asked how many crossings this made Krause responds that it was his first.

He's then told that it was a job well done and that hopefully the next one will be easier.

Answer: Sleeping

As the film goes on Krause gets more exhausted as he does not get any sleep and has little sustenance. Once the Greyhound has received air cover and they are coasting to the city of Derry, Krause decides to allow his second-in-command to take over while he goes to the captain's room to get some much needed sleep.