- Watts: [repairing the engine] Come to see the fun, sir? It won't be long now.
- Morell: Fine, chief, but the captain's a little worried about the noise. Could you do anything to... tone it down a bit?
- Watts: Pretty well finished now, sir. We're just flabbin' up the nuts. Could you hear the hammerin' up top?
- Morell: Hear it? There were U-boats popping up from miles around complaining about the racket.
- Norwegian Captain: You are thinking about the men in the water? The men you had to kill?
- Capt. Ericson: The men I had to kill.
- French Captain: It was necessary to do it.
- Norwegian Captain: It is war. There is no blame. But there may be thoughts.
- French Captain: Naturally there may be thoughts.
- Norwegian Captain: And for thoughts, there is gin.
- Capt. Ericson: [opening lines as narrator] This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of the ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heoines the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea that man has made more cruel.
- Capt. Ericson: For us the Battle of the Atlantic was becoming a private war. If you were in it, you knew all about it. You knew how to keep watch on filthy nights, and how to go without sleep, how to bury the dead, and how to die without wasting anyone's time.
- Lt. Cmdr. Ericson: [as Narrator] For us the Battle of the Atlantic was becoming a private war. If you were in it, you knew all about it. You knew how to keep watch on filthy nights, and how to go without sleep, how to bury the dead, and how to die without wasting anyone's time.
- Lockhart: [at the mess table] Getting rattled, John?
- Morell: Well, whatever we do, these damn U-boats seem to get through the screen every time. We lost almost half our convoy and an escort and are almost two days from Gibralter.
- [he gags with disgust;]
- Morell: It's an odd thing to think if nothing else happens, this is probably the worst convoy in the history of sea warfare.
- Lockhart: [trying to be comforting] Something to tell your grandchildren.
- Morell: Yes, indeed, in fact, if you can guarantee I will have grandchildren, I shall recover my spirits immediately.
- Baker: But how can he guarantee you'll have grandchildren?
- Morell: [angrily] Well, if they're as stupid as you are, I hope I don't have any!
- Baker: [taken aback at the outburst] Oh, I say...
- Baker: [he eats without further response]
- Capt. Ericson: [after choosing a battle strategy that has cost lives] I had to do it!
- Lockhart: Anyway, it's all in the report.
- Capt. Ericson: It was my fault!
- Lockhart: I... I identified it as a submarine. If anyone murdered those men, I did.
- Capt. Ericson: No one murdered them - it's the war, the whole bloody war! We've just got to do these things and say our prayers at the end.
- Lockhart: Sir, reports from HQ say that there are five U-boats in this area.
- Capt. Ericson: Five? It was good of them to tell us!
- Lockhart: [Later that evening] Now they say there are nine U-boats operating around this area.
- Capt. Ericson: Nine? Good grief, we must be very popular this evening!
- Bennett: What sort of gun have we got?
- Ferraby: Four inch.
- Bennett: Four inch what? Breech-loading, quick-firing, mark IV, mark VI, fixed ammunition?
- Ferraby: Four inch... I... I don't know.
- Bennett: Find out! I'll ask you the next time I see you. Get to the dock office, and start mustering the confidential books!
- Lockhart, Ferraby: Yes sir!
- Bennett: I'm the first lieutenant around here. And don't you forget it!
- Morell: Most Moving. I imagine there's nothing we can do to help him.
- Lt. Cmdr. Ericson: What are you all grinning at?
- Lockhart: Sorry, sir. I was thinking of something.
- Morell: It hardly does you credit, at a time like this. If the First Lieutenant is in pain, I should not have thought you would be able to laugh at anything else.
- Lt. Cmdr. Ericson: [as Narrator] When you are very tired, even the moment of triumph seems no more than part of the same bad dream.
- Watts: About the revs, sir.
- Capt. Ericson: es. The builders say slow ahead, 35, half a head, 100. - Try that to start with.
- Watts: Aye-aye, sir.
- Capt. Ericson: If I ring "full astern" twice, it means only you can save me.
- Watts: I'll remember that, sir.
- [turns to leave]
- Watts: I wonder if we'll ever see action in her. My paper says it'll be all over by Easter.
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