Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren Quotes in U-571 (2000)

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Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren Quotes:

  • Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: Relax gentlemen. She's old... but she'll hold.

  • Marine Maj. Coonan: How deep does this thing go?

    Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: Oh, she'll go all the way to the bottom if we don't stop her.

  • Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: You're a first rate X.O., Andy. A damn good submariner. I know the men like you.

    Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: I'd give my life for any one of them, sir.

    Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: I know you would. I'm not questioning your bravery. The question is: what about their lives? You and Mr. Emmett are good friends. You went to the Academy together. Would you be willing to sacrifice his life? Or what about some of the younger enlisted men? I know a lot of those guys look up to you like a big brother. You willing to lay their lives on the line?

    [Tyler hesitates to speak]

    Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: You see? you hesitate. But as a captain, you can't. You have to act. If you don't, you put the entire crew at risk. Now that's the job. It's not a science. You have to be able to make hard decisions based on imperfect information. Asking men to carry out orders that may result in their deaths. And if you're wrong, you suffer the consequences. If you're not prepared to make those decisions, without pause, without reflection, then you've got no business being a submarine captain.

  • Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: If this thing goes south I will blow that Nazi boat right out of the water.

  • Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: I didn't get my boat.

    Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: I know.

    Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: And with all due respect, sir, there's only one way that could've happened and that's if you withheld your recomendation.

    Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: That's right. I just don't think your ready.

    Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: What do you mean I'm not ready? Sir, I have worked my tail off on the S-33. I'm qualified in every area and then some. What executive officer has higher marks then I do, Captain?

    Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: Andy! Your just not ready to take on a command of your own.

  • Lt. Hirsch: Last night at 0300 hours a British destroyer reported depth charging and sinking a German U-boat. However, sometime thereafter, Allied direction finding station triangulated a coded enemy radio signal to this position here near the chop line.

    [indicates position on map]

    Lt. Hirsch: We believe the U-boat was disabled, not sunk, and is drifting eastward on a four-knot current. Now, French resistance reported a resupply submarine sailed from the Lorient U-boat pens yesterday afternoon with engine parts and mechanics. Now, we believe it's gonna rendezvous with the disabled U-boat. On board that U-boat is this.

    [picture of typewriter Enigma]

    Ens. Keith Larson, Chief Torpedoman: A typewriter?

    Lt. Hirsch: An Enigma code machine. It allows the German navy to communicate with it's submarines in secret, and our inability to decipher their messages is costing us this war. Mr. Coonan?

    Marine Maj. Coonan: All right. This is basically a Trojan Horse operation. The S-33 will rendezvous with the U-boat, posing as the German resupply sub. I will lead a boarding party dressed in Kriegsmarine uniforms to the enemy submarine. We will take it by force and secure the Enigma. Any German survivors will be transferred to the S-33 and the U-boat will be scuttled.

    Lt. Hirsch: The German resupply submarine will arrive at the rendezvous and will assume that the U-boat succumbed to its wounds and sank. The Germans must never suspect we have the Enigma. That is vital.

    Lt. Pete Emmett: So it's a race?

    Lt. Hirsch: Yes, effectively.

    Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: Who's the boarding party?

    Marine Maj. Coonan: Well, since you're the X.O., you sir. Mr. Emmett, Mr. Larson, Mr. Hirsch and nine of your ship's company. The captain, of course, will remain onboard the S-33.

    Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: Mr. Coonan, our boys are submarine sailors, not combat marines.

    Marine Maj. Coonan: The boys onboard that U-boat are sailors too. Your men'll be ready, Lieutenant. I'll train them myself.

    Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren: You've come to the right boat.

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