Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: American Buckley-class destroyer escort USS Haynes detects German U-boat, Fact2: man is not enamored with Nazi regime, Fact3: wits and crews tests men, Fact4: Murrell stalks U-boat and subjects von Stolberg and crew to multiple depth charge attacks, Fact5: von Stolberg trapped on conning tower of U-boat with injured executive officer
Output (English): The American Buckleyclass destroyer escort USS Haynes detects and attacks a German Uboat that is on its way to rendezvous with a German merchant raider in the South Atlantic Ocean. Lieutenant Commander Murrell Robert Mitchum, a former officer in the merchant marine now an active duty officer in the Naval Reserve, has recently taken command of Haynes, even though he is still recovering from injuries incurred in the sinking of his previous ship. Before the Uboat is first spotted, one sailor questions the new captains fitness and ability. However, as the battle begins, Murrell shows himself to be a match for wily Uboat KapitanLeutnant von Stolberg Curt Jurgens, a man who is not enamored with the Nazi regime, in a prolonged and deadly battle of wits that tests both men and their crews. Each man grows to respect his opponent. Murrell skillfully stalks the Uboat and subjects von Stolberg and his crew to multiple depth charge attacks. In the end, von Stolberg takes advantage of a moment of vulnerability in Murrells pattern of attacks and succeeds in torpedoing the destroyer escort. The destroyer escort is mortally wounded but still battle capable. However, Murrell has one last trick up his sleeve. He orders his men to set fires on the deck to make the ship look more damaged than it actually is. Then he orders the majority of his crew to evacuate in the lifeboats. But he keeps a skeleton crew on board to man the bridge, engine room, and one of his ships threeinch guns. As Murrell had hoped, von Stolberg surfaces so that he can use the Uboats deck gun to sink the apparently crippled ship instead of using a torpedo. Murrell orders his gun crew to fire first at the Uboats stern to immobilize it, and then at the Uboats deck gun. Murrell orders his executive officer, Lieutenant Ware Al Hedison, to steer the ship toward the Uboat at flank speed and ram it. With his boat sinking, von Stolberg orders his crew to set the scuttling charges and abandon ship. Murrell, the last man aboard, is about to join his crew in the lifeboats when he spots von Stolberg trapped on the conning tower of the Uboat with his injured executive officer, Oberleutnant zur See Heini Schwaffer Theodore Bikel. Murrell tosses a line to the submarine and rescues the pair. It is clear that Schwaffer is dying, but von Stolberg refuses to leave his friend behind. Ware returns with American and German sailors in the captains gig to take the three men off before the Uboats scuttling charges detonate. Later, aboard another American ship, the German crew consigns Schwaffers remains to the deep in a traditional ceremony, as the American crew respectfully watches.