No, not exactly. Despite being rooted in World War II history, the Tom Hanks movie is not directly based on a true story. It is instead based on author C. S. Foresters 1955 novel The Good Shepherd. Though the books story is fictional, it was heavily researched and takes place at the midpoint of World War II during the Battle of the Atlantic in the winter of 1942. Tom Hanks portrays Naval Commander Ernest Krause (named George Krause in the book), who after years of being a career officer is finally given command of a destroyer, the USS Keeling, whose radio codename is “Greyhound.” Krause commands a multi-national group of four escort ships tasked with protecting a convoy of merchant ships that are being hunted by German U-boats. Tom Hanks Greyhound movie is based on C. S. Foresters 1955 fictional book The Good Shepherd. The movies story takes place over a five-day period in the Atlantic when the 37-ship convoy is without air cover. Aided by two British destroyers and a Canadian corvette, Hanks as Krause must evade and fight not only the enemy submarines, but also his own self-doubt.
The part of Greyhound thats based on a true story is the Battle of the Atlantic, in which the fictional USS Keeling becomes involved. The WWII battle focused on Germanys effort to cut off transatlantic supply lines by gaining control of the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. and Canada needed to maintain the vital flow of supplies and men to Europe in order to keep up the fight. Germany knew that stopping the supply line would essentially give them victory in Britain and the rest of Europe, as well as the Soviet Union, thus ending the war. There wouldnt have been enough men, food, weapons, or resources to make weapons. There would have been no American soldiers for D-Day, and in turn, no D-Day and no victory. Germany used squadrons of U-boats known as wolf packs, in addition to various warships, to prowl the Atlantic Ocean and hunt down and attack Allied convoys, which is what they do to the convoy Commander Krauses ships are protecting in the Greyhound movie. The strategy that the Allies used was to send a group of merchant ships across the Atlantic in a convoy that was escorted by a group of warships, and, when feasible, aircraft. Logistically, moving approximately 40 ships as a cohesive unit was anything but easy. It was also more difficult to remain unnoticed by the Germans. The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous battle of WWII. Losing the supply lines was a constant worry for the Allies. To emphasize the importance of the battle, Winston Churchill coined the name “Battle of the Atlantic,” intentionally alluding to the Battle of Britain.
Yes. While this rarely happened, such destroyer-vs-submarine duels did take place on one or two real-life occasions. The movies fictional incident is based on an event that unfolds in The Good Shepherd book from which the film was adapted. The real-life clash that may have inspired the duel in the book happened on November 1, 1943 between the USS Borie and U-boat U-405. The U.S. destroyer was trying to ram the U-boat when a wave cause its bow to come down on top of the U-boat, trapping both in a deadly dance. The U-boat was too close for the destroyers guns, so the crew members opened fire with rifles, submachine guns, and machine guns. U-boat U-405 was swallowed by the sea that night, adding to the Atlantics WWII seabed graveyard. The USS Borie was badly damaged and scuttled the following day. Most of the encounters that happened between warships and U-boats unfolded at a distance with depth charges and torpedoes. The USS Keeling (codename Greyhound) battles a German U-boat in close proximity in the movie.
No. As we parsed out the Greyhound true story from the movie, we learned that Commander Ernest Krause is a fictional character based on Commander George Krause from C. S. Foresters book The Good Shepherd. The characters first name was changed for the movie. Tom Hanks Commander Ernest Krause is a fictional character.
No. A Greyhound fact check reveals that the USS Keeling (codenamed “Greyhound”) is fictional and was not a real-life Navy destroyer. A large portion of the movie was shot aboard the USS Kidd (DD-661), a Fletcher-class Navy destroyer named after Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, who lost his life on the bridge of the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The USS Kidd has been docked in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for years, where it has served as a tourist attraction. One of the main reasons the filmmakers chose to shoot on the historic battleship is because the Kidd is the only surviving WWII destroyer still in her wartime configuration. If you listen closely during the movie, one of the sailors on the ship refers to a buddy he knows who was on the Kidd. While its a nice nod to the ship the movie was filmed on, in real life, the USS Kidd wasnt launched until late February 1943, several months after the events in the movie take place.
How much of Greyhound is true?
Greyhound is actually based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by CS Forester. The story itself is not true – Commander Krause did not exist in real life and nor did the USS Keeling – but it is set in a real scenario – the Battle of the Atlantic.
ARLINGON, Va. — The vice chief of naval operations (VCNO) told Congress that the Navy’s experiment with an alternate ship availability maintenance concept based on the Forward Deployed Naval Force model is worth pursuing.
“But we think it’s a strong approach and it reflects, to your point, much of the conversation we had about other excursions off the OFRP baseline,” he told Luria.
The concept, called Task Force Greyhound, was conceived by Rear Adm. Brad Cooper, then-commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, as a way to provide fleet commanders “a predictable and sustainable model to maximize warships ready for operational tasking,” according to a March 5 Navy release.
The pilot is a departure from the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP) by providing more frequent but smaller, incremental availability periods for ship maintenance and upgrades. The model is similar to the maintenance plans for Navy ships forward deployed to Japan and Spain, for example.
Luria, a former naval surface warfare officer, said she was encouraged by the Task Force Greyhound idea.
The C-2 Greyhound is a Humble, Heavy-duty Workhorse For the U.S. Navy
ARLINGON, Va. — The vice chief of naval operations (VCNO) told Congress that the Navy’s experiment with an alternate ship availability maintenance concept based on the Forward Deployed Naval Force model is worth pursuing.
The concept, called Task Force Greyhound, was conceived by Rear Adm. Brad Cooper, then-commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, as a way to provide fleet commanders “a predictable and sustainable model to maximize warships ready for operational tasking,” according to a March 5 Navy release.
VCNO Adm. William K. Lescher, testifying June 9 before the Readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and responding to a question from Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Virginia, about the model, Task Force Greyhound, said the concept is about responding “to an operational need for readiness in our cruiser-destroyer ships in Norfolk [Virginia] and Mayport [Florida] with a small pilot [program].”
The pilot is a departure from the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP) by providing more frequent but smaller, incremental availability periods for ship maintenance and upgrades. The model is similar to the maintenance plans for Navy ships forward deployed to Japan and Spain, for example.
“We will move forward to do this tailored maintenance, this excursion from OFRP, both to generate some increased operational availability in [cruisers and destroyers] and then to learn,” Lescher said. “It is not a complete no-brainer. There is some learning to be involved in terms of what it means to the executability of the maintenance.
“But we think it’s a strong approach and it reflects, to your point, much of the conversation we had about other excursions off the OFRP baseline,” he told Luria.
Lescher said “from a budget perspective, it [the Task Force Greyhound concept] is essentially budget neutral.”
Luria, a former naval surface warfare officer, said she was encouraged by the Task Force Greyhound idea.