Movies

Submarine film is a subgenre of war film which takes place in a submarine below the surface of the ocean. Films of this subgenre typically focus on a small but determined crew of submariners battling against not only their enemies, but also the extreme pressure of being underwater (as their submarines typically descend past "hull crush depth", a depth which varies from movie to movie) and being in such close proximity to one another. This imbues films of the subgenre with a great deal of dramatic tension, which is added to by occasional but dramatic battle scenes in which the crew waits with bated breath while sonar pings, depth charges explode overhead, and bolts fly out of bulkheads in the submarine.

Despite the drama of the battle scenes in submarine films, however, the mainstay of the tension in these movies occurs away from battle, which sets this subgenre apart from its parent genre of war films. Usually there is some manner of controversy throughout the crew that sets them against one another, and proves much more dangerous than the depth charges and torpedoes of enemy crafts.

List of submarine movies

This is a list of movies in which a submarine plays a significant role in the storyline. Most of these submarines are entirely fictitious. Some of the ships are real, but their movies are based on fictitious events. Other movies are based on historical events.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1954 — Jules Verne's fictional Nautilus
Above Us the Waves 1955 — Royal Navy midget submarines v. Tirpitz
The Abyss 1989 — a fictional USS Montana
The Atomic Submarine 1959 — a fictional USS Tiger Shark
The Bedford Incident 1965
Behind the Door 1919 — U-98
Below 2002 — a fictional USS Tiger Shark
Crash Dive 1943 — a fictional USS Corsair
Crimson Tide 1995 — USS Alabama
Das Boot 1981 — U-96
Destination Tokyo 1943 — a fictional USS Copperfin
Down Periscope 1996 — a fictional USS Stingray (SS-161)
The Enemy Below 1957
The Fifth Missile 1986 — a fictional USS Montana
Gray Lady Down 1978 — a fictional USS Neptune
Hell Below 1933 — USS AL-14
Hellcats of the Navy 1957 — a fictional USS Starfish
Hostile Waters 1997 — K-219
The Hunley 1999 — CSS Hunley
The Hunt for Red October 1990 — a fictional Красный Октябрь, USS Dallas (SSN-700)
Ice Station Zebra 1968 — a fictional USS Tigerfish (SS-509) (In the novel: the USS Dolphin)
In Enemy Hands 2004 — a fictional USS Swordfish and U-429; European title U-Boat
K-19: The Widowmaker 2002 — K-19
Men Without Women 1930 — a fictional USS S-13
Morning Departure 1950 — US title Operation Disaster
Morgenrot 1933
On the Beach 1959, 2000 — a fictional USS Swordfish
Operation Pacific 1951 — a fictional USS Thunderfish
Operation Petticoat 1959,1977 — a fictional USS Sea Tiger
Phantom Below
Run Silent, Run Deep 1958 — a fictional USS Nerka (sharing the title and main character name of Edward L. Beach's novel, but nothing else)
Silent Service 1995 — a Japanese Anime film of Japan's first nuclear powered submarine, which goes rogue.
Sub Down: Take the Dive 1997
Submarine 1928 — a movie by Frank Capra
Submarine Seahawk
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming 1966 — a comedy
Torpedo Alley 1953
Torpedo Run 1958
U-571 2000 — a fictional U-571
Up Periscope 1959
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 1961 — a fictional USOS Seaview
We Dive at Dawn 1943
Yellow Submarine 1968

External links

• Submarines in the Movies and TV. SubmarineSailor.com. Retrieved on 2006-03-01.