The Silent Enemy (film)

The Silent Enemy is a 1958 action film directed by William Fairchild. It stars Laurence Harvey as Lionel Buster Crabb and describes his exploits during World War II. Based on Marshall Pughs book Commander Crabb, it was made following the publicity created by Crabbs mysterious disappearance and likely death during a Cold War incident a year earlier.

The story begins with a dramatisation of the Italian manned torpedo raid on Alexandria 1941 in which two British battleships were damaged. The British are worried that this new Italian tactic will give the enemy naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. From Spain, an Italian expert on underwater operations is secretly watching the British base in Gibraltar and planning new attacks.Maverick diver Lionel Crabb is brought in to head the British response. He creates a team of divers to intercept the Italian attacks and defuse the bombs. The Italians plan a major attack on a British convoy, but Crabb and another diver manage to infiltrate the Spanish docks from which the Italians are planning the attack, identifying the ship the Olterra which the Italians attack from. Crabb leads an unauthorised preemptive strike on the ship carrying the torpedoes and destroys it, winning the George Medal. ........

Source: Wikipedia