HMCS Sackville sails again, digitally
Last surviving corvette appears in Second World War drama ‘Greyhound’
HALIFAX — A famous, longtime Halifax resident has a striking role in Tom Hanks' new Second World War movie, “Greyhound.”
The naval battle drama which premiered July 10 on Apple TV+ stars the HMCS Sackville, the corvette docked as a museum piece on the Halifax waterfront. And it didn't have to leave its berth to star in the movie.
In Dec. 2017, LCdr (retired) Doug Thomas, executive director of the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, was contacted by FilmNation Entertainment in Baton Rouge, La. They needed historicallyaccurate footage of convoy escorts for the film.
Sackville is the last of 269 corvettes from the Battle of the Atlantic.
“I was very pleased to hear it was Tom Hanks' project and I knew it would be a quality production with him involved,” Thomas said. “To have our ship in effect at sea again, virtually, was really neat.”
A member of the film's visual effects team, Alex Shvartzman, travelled to Halifax from Vancouver. Over two days shortly before Christmas, Shvartzman used light detection and ranging (lidar) to scan the ship.
The scans of the exterior of the ship were used to produce realistic scenes of the Sackville in action.
“I understand they also sent a film crew to HMCS Montreal when she was doing some sea trials so they were able to get video of open ocean, North Atlantic seas,” said Thomas. “The North Atlantic in the winter is an unfriendly place so they wanted to depict accurately what it would be like.”
The movie was initially scheduled for release on March 22, 2019 but it was delayed. Thomas suspects it was because there were other Second World War films premiering around that time. It was delayed another few times until it was released on the streaming platform earlier this month because of theatre shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hanks has said he hopes it will be in theatres someday.
Thomas was asked by the production company if there would be a fee for filming the Sackville, but Thomas said no, and instead requested the corvette portrayed in the film be identified as the HMCS Sackville or hull number (K181) be used, as well as crediting the naval trust. He said the naval trust was just thrilled for the Sackville to appear in the movie. Thomas doesn't know if the requests were approved.
“Greyhound,” starring and written by Hanks, is based on the “Good Shepherd,” a 1955 novel written by C.S. Forester. Based on true events, Hanks plays a U.S. destroyer captain protecting a convoy sailing across the Atlantic in 1942.
SET IN 1942
“Greyhound” is set in 1942, which happened to be a big year for the Sackville as she flexed her muscles on German submarines.
In August 1942, Sackville was part of an escort of a convoy.
“She engaged three different U-boats in the span of 24 hours while protecting the convoy,” said Thomas. “Two of them were very badly damaged, and in fact at the time, the thought was both of them had been sunk. They managed to limp back to Germany and after extensive refits, they were able to be redeployed to the North Atlantic, but it took a long time.”
Thomas said Sackville was busy throughout the war, but that summer in 1942 was the closest she came to sinking U-boats.
PERFECT FOR FILM
Given her history and museum-quality state, Sackville was a shoo-in for the role. Actually, the only choice.
“Since Sackville is the very last of 269 corvettes of her time that were built in World War Two, we were an obvious choice because what 'Greyhound' was based on had a Canadian corvette and a British corvette, I believe in the movie,” Thomas said.
He hasn't seen the movie yet and he's a bit disappointed he'll have to watch it on an iPad instead of a movie screen, but he's excited to see the Sackville in action. There is a quick shot of a Flowerclass corvette, identical to the Sackville, in the trailer.
Thomas said films like these are vital in showing modern audiences how pivotal the Battle of the Atlantic was to ending the war.
“You couldn't get troops to land in Normandy if you couldn't get across the ocean and with all of the material: the tanks, the guns, ammunition, you name it, and of course the people,” he said. “That had to go by sea and the seas had to be made safe from U-boats.”