Run Silent, Run Deep (1958 film)

Run Silent, Run Deep is a 1958 American blackandwhite war film from United Artists, produced by Harold Hecht, directed by Robert Wise, and starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Commander later Captain Edward L. Beach Jr.. The title refers to silent running, a submarine stealth tactic. The story describes World War II submarine warfare in the Pacific Ocean, and deals with themes of vengeance, endurance, courage, loyalty, and honor and how these can be tested during time of war.

A World War II US Navy submarine officer, Commander P.J. Richardson Clark Gable, has an obsession with a Japanese destroyer that has sunk three US submarines in the Bungo Straits, including his previous command. He persuades the Navy Board to give him a new submarine command with the provision that his executive officer, also known as the XO or the exec, be someone who has just returned from active sea patrol. He singlemindedly trains the crew of his new boat, the USS Nerka, to return to the Bungo Straits and sink the destroyer, captained by a crafty exsubmariner nicknamed Bungo Pete. Richardsons executive officer, Lieutenant Jim Bledsoe Burt Lancaster, is worried about the safety of his boat and his crew. Bledsoe is also seething with resentment at Richardson and the Navy leadership for denying him command of the Nerka, which he believes should have been his.Richardson begins to drill the crew on a rapid bow shot, in which a submarine shoots at a destroyer moving in for the kill down the throat i.e., at its bow coming headon, which is normally considered a desperation shot due to the extremely narrow profile of the target. He then bypasses one target only to take on a Japanese destroyer using a bow shot. The crew is outraged as it discovers that Richardson is avoiding legitimate targets in order to enter the Bungo Straits undetected in direct contradiction to his mission orders. Finally, they are confronted by a large convoy about 7,000 yards ahead. Soon after firing two torpedoes at one of the cargo ships, blowing it up and then engaging Bungo Pete, they are attacked by aircraft that had been alerted to their presence and waiting in ambush. The submarine is forced to dive and barely escapes destruction from depth charges. Three of the crew are killed, and Richardson suffers an incapacitating skull fracture. The submarine also narrowly escapes what the crew mistakenly believes to be one of their own torpedoes doubling back on them. By sending up blankets, equipmen

Source: Wikipedia