Submarine Command

During the Pacific War, Lieutenant Commander Ken White orders a crash dive to evade a Japanese air strike. The decision costs Captain Josh Rice and the quartermaster, who are lost topside as White refuses to wait. Crewman Boyer pleads for delay, but the dive goes ahead.

The Tiger Shark surfaces shortly after the dive to learn that the war is over. The crew wrestles with the losses, and Boyer alone voices blame for White. Rice's widow and father do not blame him.

White marries Carol and remains in the Navy after the war. He attempts to build a normal life, but the memories of the doomed dive haunt his days. The couple's happiness strains as White's guilt weighs on him.

White is assigned to show a reporter around the Navy's mothball fleet, drawing attention to the Tiger Shark. The journalist mentions that the officer who ordered the dive must feel like a heel, reopening White's old guilt. Boyer seizes a chance to request a transfer, signaling lingering tensions.

With the submarine being recommissioned, Boyer is reassigned to White's unit. The two men's fraught history hovers as they prepare for duty. A fire breaks out aboard the submarine, trapping a man in a compartment.

Boyer wants to rush into the fire to rescue the trapped man, but White insists on following procedure and makes him wear a protective suit first. The disagreement deepens Boyer's resentment and strains the crew's cohesion. The incident heightens the toxic dynamic between the captain and his former protégé.

White considers resigning from the Navy to escape his past, but decides to stay just as Carol chooses to leave him. The separation compounds White's personal and professional turmoil. The sense of unresolved guilt becomes a persistent undercurrent.

North Korea invades the South, and White is given command of the Tiger Shark. The submarine sails from Mare Island Naval Shipyard to participate in the conflict. Boyer remains a disgruntled crew member as tensions mount.

The Tiger Shark rendezvous with an aircraft carrier to mount a rescue mission for a colonel and his intelligence unit. White's role is to land two groups to disable enemy coastal installations before a paratrooper assault on the POW camp. Commander Peter Morris leads the operation on the ground.

After dropping off Morris's unit, an overheating engine threatens the timing of the second landing. To make up lost time, White decides to enter a mined harbor, embracing a dangerous gambit. The crew steels themselves for a high-stakes maneuver that could prove disastrous.

White sees the mission signal and surfaces to alert the admiral, exposing the Tiger Shark to shore batteries. The submarine is struck and sinks, forcing the crew to abandon ship. White and his men are rescued along with the freed prisoners.

With the ghosts of the past exorcised, White attends the launching of another Tiger Shark alongside his wife, their baby, and Boyer. The moment marks a ceremonial renewal and a release from old guilt. The film closes on a note of reconciliation and continuation.