Hostile Waters

The K-219 executes a Crazy Ivan maneuver and is struck by USS Aurora, tearing a seal on a ballistic missile tube. Seawater floods in, triggering a corrosive reaction that fills the sub with toxic gas.

As seawater floods in, a corrosive chemical reaction feeds a blazing fire that spreads through the hull. Smoke grows thick, reducing visibility and complicating the crew's response.

The captain surfaces the submarine and orders the crew out onto the deck to escape the toxic atmosphere. He directs efforts to vent the submarine to shed heat and toxic gases, buying time to manage the crisis.

The chief engineer warns that the fire could cook off the nuclear missiles and cause a catastrophic explosion. This assessment adds urgency to the decision-making under dangerous conditions.

To vent the smoke, the launch doors in the missile compartment are opened. The sight of open SLBM doors raises alarms in Washington about possible launch or contamination.

USS Aurora determines there is a fire aboard K-219 and reports it to the Pentagon. Fearing radiological contamination of the Eastern Seaboard, U.S. authorities move to address the rising crisis.

The Pentagon orders Aurora to prepare to sink K-219 if necessary to prevent a radiological disaster. Officials weigh the risk of nuclear fallout against the danger of a deadly fire on the sub.

The captain hatches a bold plan to dive the submarine with its launch doors still open, flooding the missile bay and cooling the systems. The tactic aims to quash the fire and avert a nuclear catastrophe at sea.

After a tense debate, the U.S. commander decides to wait and verify the sub's intent rather than risk a launch. Washington eventually realizes that K-219 is diving, not preparing to launch missiles.

The submarine surfaces and the fires are extinguished, thanks to the flooding of the missile bay. The immediate nuclear threat seems to be abating, but new problems arise as cooling systems fail.

Two nuclear reactors overheat and cooling rods must be lowered manually by crew members with dwindling oxygen. The situation becomes a life-or-death struggle to avert a meltdown.

Two crew members operate under dangerous conditions to lower the cooling rods, but one becomes locked inside the reactor room with oxygen running out. The crew makes a desperate push to save the boat and themselves.

With seawater flooding the hull and oxygen running low, the captain orders the crew to abandon ship. Survivors escape to the surface as the submarine struggles to stay afloat.

Captain Britanov and his surviving crew members return safely to Moscow. Some receive decorations, while Britanov is dismissed from the Navy in recognition of the ordeal.

The Reykjavik Summit takes place as planned in 1986, while the film's epilogue notes a lingering Cold War legacy: dozens of nuclear warheads and reactors lie on the North Atlantic seabed years later. The long shadow of K-219's crisis underscores the fragile balance between diplomacy and catastrophe.