Das Boot (The Boat) is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Peterson and produced by Günter Rohrbach. An adaptation of Lothar-Gunther Buchheim’s 1973 German novel based on his experiences aboard German submarine U-96, the film is set during World War II and follows U-96 and her crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic.