Audio problem: When the U-boat captain is called onto deck,he orders his machine gunner to fire at the sailors who are rowing towards them. As soon as he fires the ammo belt gets used up straight away, however the sound of the gun carries on for a short while longer. (00:27:50)
Continuity mistake: When the plane flies over the U-571, an overhead shot shows Tyler and Mazzola looking up at the plane while Trigger and Rabbit wave from beside the deck gun. Then Tyler orders the men to wave at the plane.
Continuity mistake: When Mazzola is shot in the engine room he takes down the German, first he has hold of the German by the neck, then the collar, then the neck, then the collar again. (01:08:35)
Factual error: When Rabbit first checks the German sub's torpedo tubes, we catch a glimpse of the torpedo loaded in the tube, its propulsion screws visible. It is loaded incorrectly and missing the piston-type device put in behind the torpedo which pushes the torpedo out via compressed air. This torpedo wouldn't go anywhere when fired. (00:53:12)
Factual error: The American crew tries to fool the German destroyer by launching a corpse and debris through the torpedo tubes. However, at more than 150 meters depth this would have been pretty much suicide. The outer torpedo doors of a Type VII sub were not designed to be opened in depths exceeding 20 meters. At 150 meters, the crew probably would have been unable to open them in the first place, but even if they did the brutal water pressure would have likely severely destroyed the outer and inner torpedo doors and caused the submarine to be flooded and crushed in seconds.
Continuity mistake: When the Americans are first diving U-571, the Chief recommends "closing main vents". Tyler runs over and starts spinning two large red wheels. Each time the scene cuts back to him, he is spinning the wheels in a different direction. Left than right, than left again.
Continuity mistake: At the very beginning U571 is being depth charged and forced to surface but the attacking destroyer has disappeared. (00:08:20)
Continuity mistake: When the German in the bunk goes to shoot Matthew McConaughey, the man fires but the bullet doesn't hit the wall, only about 2 feet away, for a much longer time than it would have really taken. Also, when the American soldiers pass by the spot a few minutes later where the bullet hit (when they are looking at the dead German's ring) the bullet hole has suddenly disappeared. (00:43:40)
Continuity mistake: When the U-571 goes to 200m, it springs a bunch of leaks and everybody gets soaked. Then, there is a shot looking past Tank's left shoulder at Tyler and the chief talking. In this shot, Tank's shoulder is completely dry. The camera angle changes and then changes back, and in the next shot at this same angle Tank's coat is now dripping with water. (01:35:50)
Factual error: Submariners are trained to always listen to the sounds of the boat, since anything out of the ordinary could mean death. Given that training, the small size of a German U-boat and the less-than-skeleton crew aboard it is not possible that the sounds of the fight in the forward torpedo room, or the sounds of the German commander operating the chain on the torpedo loading rail would have gone unnoticed or uninvestigated for so long.
Factual error: At the beginning of the film the diesel fuel in the German U-boat is shown being ignited by a spark and bursting into flames during the depth charge attack as if it were gasoline. In reality diesel fuel is quite hard to ignite when not compressed and does not burn quite so readily as shown in the film. (00:06:05)
Factual error: The movie used 3 "dive" commands and 3 blasts of the klaxon to dive. This is incorrect. The command to dive is repeated twice and the diving klaxon is sounded twice. Command to surface is 3 and 3.
Plot hole: In the movie the German sub is in the middle of the Atlantic about 1500 miles from the American coast the American submarine is an S-Class boat which had a top speed on the surface of 12 Knots even less underwater and it spent part of the trip submerged. This means that it would have taken them at least 5 or 6 days to reach the German Sub. This is 1942 There would have been dozens of other German subs a lot closer who could have come to their rescue.
Continuity mistake: When Mazzola dies, his eyes are initially open. The German captain pushes him away, and just before Mazzola's face goes out of camera he closes his eyes. In the next shot of him lying on his back on the floor, his eyes are open again.
Revealing mistake: When the German destroyer is hit by the torpedo at the end of the film it is seen to stop dead in the water upon the torpedo impact. In reality momentum would have carried the ship forward some distance after the explosion. A thousand or so tons of steel just does not stop on a dime unless it hits something like a mountainside.
Visible crew/equipment: When they are first reporting to the dockyard in the beginning, right after being waved through the gate, there are servicemen working on the ships. In one of the shots, a serviceman making sparks with a grinder for effect is wearing a white Adidas shoe on his left foot, with the logo fully visible on the heel. This is in the BluRay edition. (00:13:17)
Other mistake: As the Germans open fire on the British sailors in a life boat, there is a panning shot of the crew. In this shot, a hair (or scratch) that made its way onto the film itself is visible on screen. (00:27:20)
Continuity mistake: Just after unveiling the Nazi plates on the SS-33, there are 3 seamen wearing brown jackets next to the deck gun. When the shot changes there are 4. (00:25:00)
Visible crew/equipment: Just as the SS-33 sets off we see the crew on board say "all ahead two thirds". As they say this the camera moves behind a ladder resulting in a camera shadow on the ladder. (00:20:50)
Continuity mistake: During the mission briefing, the position of the Top Secret folder changes from the centre of the map to the side of the map between instant cuts. (00:23:30)
Answer: Technically he's not getting fired, but Dahlgren did not recommend Tyler for his own command, and he won't get a promotion without Dahlgren's recommendation. Therefore, Tyler's only choices are to keep being an executive officer (which is possible but not what he wants, not to mention Tyler feels betrayed by Dahlgren and isn't sure he wants to continue working with him), or leave the navy entirely.
Aerinah