Corrected entry: When Johann the engineer cracks during a depth charge barrage, the skipper hurriedly retrieves his pistol. After Johann is subdued, the weary skipper lays the weapon down unfired. It is a Walther P.38, but a postwar model, as revealed by the grips and alloy frame. Also, a lieutenant commander would probably have had a Walther PPK or Navy Mauser.
sabbathmusic
27th Sep 2003
Correction: The fact this alleged P-38 has P-1 (Post War grips) Does not mean a thing. You cannot see if it has an alloy frame and pre WW2 Allloy frames did exist and were called P-38's. The pre ww2 Walther P-38's were called HP's and they had these POST war grips (p-1 grips) check your sources!, These were the original P-38 grips, who is to say were this captain aquired the gun? U-boat commanders could have carried Colt 45's.
sabbathmusic
But you can see, by how far the serrations on the slide go forward, that this pistol has a post-1968 reinforced slide. That, together with the post-war service grips, makes it almost certainly a P1.