All compartments, report readiness.
Compartment one,
manned and ready.
Compartment two,
manned and ready.
Compartment four,
manned and ready.
Compartment five,
manned and ready.
Compartment six,
manned and ready.
Compartment seven,
manned and ready.
Compartment eight,
manned and ready.
Compartment nine,
manned and ready.
Compartment ten,
manned and ready.
Comrade Captain, the boat is ready
for live firing of the missile batteries.
Activate emergency procedure
for nuclear weapon release.
- The political department is ready.
- Excuse me.
Number one missile tube open.
Moscow's confirmed nuclear weapons
release authority.
Number one hatch open.
Silo free of water.
Powering consoles for missile launch.
Powering number one console.
Maintain course
and speed.
Course steady 2-9-0.
Maintaining speed six knots.
Hatch number one open.
Silo free of water.
Fuelling in progress.
Proceed with activating
the warhead on number one missile.
- Periscope going up!
- Demichev, back to the Conn.
Prepare number three tube
to the active estate.
- Repower control console to primary.
- Bypass valve shut.
- Console to position one primary.
- 60 seconds from range.
Prepare for emergency dive
after launch.
Number one missile fuelled.
Table elevated.
- Table elevated.
- Down scope.
Ready for firing sequence.
Launch number one missile.
Time to launch 15 seconds.
- 11, 10...
- Captain, we've been fired on!
Enemy torpedo at bearing 1-9-0.
- 7...
- Dive the submarine. Keep 50 meters.
Keep 50 meters.
- Both turbines full ahead together.
- Full ahead together.
...3, 2, 1. Captain!
- Force manual override!
- Launching sequence not responding.
- Estimate torpedo at 6,000 meters.
- The drill is over.
Well, Commander Polenin.
Do you have an explanation for this?
Comrade Admiral, it's another
burn out in the ignition sequence.
Comrade Captain, I will require
the names of those responsible...
I don't know. Why would I know
the name of the jackass
that supplied a 30 kopeck insulator
to do a 50 kopeck job?
I have to fight that
before I can fight a war.
Admiral, the boat will be at sea.
On schedule! Before the month is out.
I'll give you a name. My name.
Polenin, Mikhail! Captain, K-19.
Write it down!
After you've successfully
completed trials
on the mechanical, propulsion and
navigation systems in the Barents sea,
you'll proceed beneath the ice
to the launch area here,
and test-fire the missile.
My orders were to prepare K-19 for
sea trials. They'll begin on schedule.
Until they're complete, to undertake
an exercise of this scope...
may be, with respect,
premature.
There is no doubt in my mind
that K-19 is ready
to fulfill her mission.
Operation Arctic Circle
is no mere exercise.
What is to stop the Americans
destroying Moscow and Leningrad?
Only one thing...
...a certain knowledge
of destruction in return.
K-19 is that knowledge.
But not until Kennedy is told
by his spy planes that we have it.
And it works.
I promised Comrade Krushchev
that the American President will get
the message before the month ends.
Comrade,
perhaps Captain Polenin might...
Captain Polenin
put his boat and men before the Party.
He will be under your command.
That's all there is to it.
We need to reconnect
to shore supply.
Reconnect to the shore supply.
The Captain on the CCP.
- Please.
- Captain.
- What's your name, please?
- Demichev. Torpedo officer, Captain.
May I ask the Captain's name
and purpose aboard our boat?
My name is Vostrikov.
Where's Captain Polenin?
Come in.
Yes.
- Morning, Captain.
- Comrade Captain Vostrikov.
That'll be all, Yuri.
Come in, please.
Captain.
With the short lead-in time
to sea trials,
headquarters wanted
your expertise on board.
And I'm pleased to have it.
I know this could be difficult for...
It's never difficult
to do one's duty, Captain.
I was preparing my briefing
on the crew and on the boat.
I see.
The problem is fitting her out.
My orders said
you'd be arriving tomorrow.
Well, the briefing can wait.
Show me the boat.
Yes, of course.
We're finally getting
the turbines up to speed.
With luck, in another week
we might be able to run a test.
The equipment has not yet arrived,
Comrade Captain.
Noted, Comrade Captain.
The reactor compartment.
How hot are you running it?
We're at 50 per cent
for the turbine test.
What is the absorption rate
of the rods?
Three per cent above normal.
Where is the reactor officer?
Lieutenant Yashin?
- He's drunk. Do you tolerate this?
- Of course not.
Prepare charges against this man.
Inform command
we need an immediate replacement.
Yes, Captain.
Lieutenant Yashin is the best
reactor officer in the navy.
He's never been drunk on duty before.
We need him, Captain.
I urge you to reconsider.
I want this boat out of dry dock.
Sea trials begin in two weeks.
The boat isn't ready, Captain.
The problem is Moscow.
They have tours and we have
incompetent crews and broken parts.
Sea trials will begin on schedule.
We deliver or we'll drown.
In the history of the Soviet Navy,
no sailors have been given
such a boat as K-19.
It is the finest submarine in the world.
You have been given the honor
to be her crew.
I have been given the honor
to be your captain.
Without me, you are nothing.
Without you,
I am nothing.
Much is expected of us.
We will not fail.
We're cursed.
Easy, easy! Keep it level!
Steady!
Now, down, down.
Coming through. Permission to pass.
- What do you have?
- A new scope for the sonar station.
- Carry on. Install it.
- I work on the reactor, Captain.
Where is the sonar officer?
He's on a 24-hour pass.
Captain, I initiated the relief rotation.
- It's good for efficiency.
- No passes. All leaves are cancelled.
We need everyone
to do their jobs.
Yes, Captain.
Comrade Captain.
Lieutenant Vadim Radtchenko.
Reporting for duty.
I'm your new reactor officer.
- What was your last posting?
- Nuclear training academy.
He's never operated a reactor at sea.
I was first in my class.
- Report to the reactor control room.
- Yes, sir.
- That way.
- Thank you.
Captain...
He's qualified. Or command
wouldn't have sent him to us.
Officer on deck.
Pavel Loktev. Senior technician.
Stepan Komarov,
Anatoly Subachev, Grigori Dyomin,
Oleg Argunov.
- Show me to the control room.
- Anatoly.
We haven't got all day!
Move it!
Take it! Hurry up! Go, go!
Put it there.
Easy!
Watch out!
I have to stop the truck.
They gave me the wrong drugs!
- That goes over here!
- Stop the truck!
Hey! Hey! Stop, stop!
Wrong drugs!
You gave me the wrong drugs!
You idiot! Stop!
Help me! Help me!
- Doctor!
- It's the Doctor!
He's dead.
Stay till the ambulance comes.
The rest of you, back to work.
Back to work!
Oh, Gavril.
Captain.
Since the solid ballast was loaded
we've had a half-degree list to port.
I've tried everything.
She won't even up.
Half-degree we can handle.
We'll compensate with sea water
ballast till we get back to port.
If we get back to port.
You know what the men
are calling this boat?
The Widowmaker.
Five died from fumes
sealing the tanks.
Another four in construction
and the doctor.
The champagne bottle.
Ten dead. And we haven't left dock.
I'm surprised they confide their fears
to their commanding officer.
A crew is a family.
The captain is the father.
My own father inspired
more fear than he indulged.
I was told there are two versions
about your father.
One, he was a hero
of the Revolution.
Two, he died in the Gulag.
Both are true.
How are those safety checks
going on down below, Captain?
Proceeding.
Misha. There you go.
and he gives half to a rodent.
Yevgeny, wrap this around
your private parts.
The gamma rays can...
You should also take your dosimeter
- once a day to the doctor.
- Why?
He reads it and tells you how long
you have before your torpedo falls off.
Captain?
I'm Gennadi Savran.
Your new medical officer.
What was your last posting?
No, no. I'm the base physician here.
They said there was an emergency.
So here I am.
- Welcome to K-19, Doctor.
- Captain...
We will be back soon?
- I get...
- What?
...seasick.
Gentlemen, gentlemen.
Misha, please.
- Vostrikov marries a girl...
- Yuri, you promised.
Vostrikov marries a girl
with top Party connections.
He knows which fork to use for
salad, so they make him a captain.
That's why
you've never been promoted.
Be quiet!
We are all good communists here.
- To good communists!
- To good communists!
You're drunk. Sit down!
Gentlemen, gentlemen.
A little bit of respect.
Captain Vostrikov does not know you
the way I do.
You're still the captain
as far as we're concerned.
He's the captain.
I'm executive officer.
I'm pleased to be with my boys.
My turn.
They say another cosmonaut
orbited earth before Yuri Gagarin.
But he was not loyal enough
to hold his breath
when his life support system gave up.
So now he never existed.
Gagarin was lucky.
Let's hope we are too.
To luck!
Vadim!
- Vadim!
- Katya!
- Katya!
- Vadim!
Vadim!
- Don't worry!
- Don't go!
Please!
Defense Minister Zelentsov.
Admiral Bratyeev...
request permission to carry out
orders in defense of the motherland.
Carry out your patriotic duty.
- All hands down.
- All hands down!
- Single up all lines.
- Single up all lines!
Single up lines!
- Land the gangway.
- Land the gangway!
Gangway landed!
Gangway landed!
K-19 ready for sea, Captain.
- Port turbine, slow ahead.
- Port turbine, slow ahead.
I just hope you picked the right man.
- All compartments prepare to dive.
- Top hatches closed and latched!
- Open the mid-ship vent.
- Opened.
- Ready to dive, Captain.
- Dive the boat.
Speed six knots.
Depth 50 meters.
Speed 6 knots.
Planesman, depth 50 meters.
Making depth 50 meters.
- Slow ahead together.
- Slow ahead together.
- Course?
- Course is steady 3-2-3, Captain.
- Depth under the keel.
- Echo sound reads 350 meters.
- 20 meters.
- Telephone tested and correct.
Take readings every two minutes.
Don't worry. It'll stop
once the pressure increases.
Simulate an electrical fire
in the galley, please.
Fire in switchbox number 65.
This is a drill.
Repeat. This is a drill.
We're stuck!
Fire has spread
to the next compartment.
Simulate electrical failure,
compartment four.
Electrical failure,
compartment four. This is a drill.
Compartment four,
loss of electrical power. This is a drill!
Emergency lights!
Prepare the cable! Let's go!
The fire's out in the galley, Captain.
Too much damage.
Too many casualties.
Simulate flooding, compartment four.
Make them work in the dark.
If this were not a drill the boat would
be crippled and half the crew dead.
Let me speak
to the officer in charge.
Try it again tomorrow.
I only wanted to say
how sympathetic I am
about the change in command.
These decisions are not always
for us to understand.
Thank you, Comrade Suslov.
Still, it's an honor to serve
in this boat in any capacity.
indeed.
It's historic.
Excuse me.
Checking the pressurizer?
Yes, Lieutenant.
You know religious icons
are forbidden?
Yeah?
This is the future, Pavel.
Cars that never need refueling.
Free power for every family.
Maybe even travel to the planets.
It's a privilege
to be a part of this future.
Yes, Lieutenant.
Good morning, gentlemen.
- What's this?
- We only shower on Saturdays.
Action stations. Chemical fire
in motor control compartment.
This is a drill.
Watch out!
Fire in the main switchboard,
C2L.
Come on, come on!
Valve rupture in compartment eight.
Torpedo fuel spill in aft torpedo room.
Start the drill again.
Comrades, officers and sailors,
remember...
the American propaganda will always
play on your baser primitive instincts.
Greed, lust, individualism.
In American propaganda,
you will see how everybody has a car,
nice clothes, a nice apartment.
But you will never see
the truth behind this lie.
You will not see police dogs attacking
demonstrators for civil rights.
You will not see beggars, the
homeless, the Negro shantytowns.
You will not see the warmongers
who threaten the world
with nuclear holocaust.
Stand by to simulate firing
torpedo number eight.
- Number eight isn't loaded, Captain.
- I know that.
I want you to unload seven
and load eight.
- Now, please.
- Captain.
Ice formations near our depth.
I suggest we go deeper
and run the drill later.
Negative. Ice formations will not be
suspended in the event of war.
Unload seven torpedo.
Load eight torpedo.
Unload seven torpedo.
Load eight torpedo. This is a drill.
Will we ever stop?
We need the rest.
Quiet!
Proceed to your action stations
immediately.
Come on!
Gauge in gear.
Torpedo withdrawn.
Open number eight.
Traverse torpedo!
Traverse torpedo!
Dimitri!
Come on, help me!
Come on! Don't stop!
Vasily! Vasily!
Two men are injured.
Have them seen by the doctor
and start the drill again.
Two men short, Captain.
Have them put the torpedo back
in tube seven and start the drill again.
- Traverse torpedo!
- Traversing torpedo!
Going under! Clear!
Attention!
At ease.
I was told there was
some complaining.
So...any complaints?
There's no complaints here, Captain.
Good.
It's not the men's fault.
It's your fault...the officers.
You have failed
to set high standards,
to correct their deficiencies.
If you do your job,
the men will do theirs.
That is all.
- What's her name?
- Katya.
She's pretty.
Hey.
- She's pretty.
- Hey.
Sorry.
- I'm writing to her.
- Where will you mail it?
- It's in case I die.
- In case you die?
In case I die.
Captain, we're five miles from missile
launch area. Ahead of schedule.
Good morning, gentlemen.
- Course to steer, 1-8-5.
- 1-8-5.
Captain.
Captain.
Conduct emergency dive drill.
Bow planes jammed
Bow planes
jammed 20 degrees down.
Set 20 degrees down on the bow.
Bow planes are jammed
I have the conn.
Move!
Take the boat down
to maximum operational depth.
Make your depth 250 meters.
Turbines slow ahead together.
Thanks.
Captain, I suggest going below
Continue the dive to 300 meters.
I know.
Make your depth 300 meters.
- Level the planes!
- Level the bow planes!
Simulate flooding in the aft torpedo
room and emergency surface.
A rapid ascent beneath the ice cap
is not advisable, Captain.
I did not ask for your advice.
Flooding in compartment ten.
Emergency surface.
Go, go, go!
Man stations, valve five!
- Faster! Come on!
- Secure the base!
Poliansky, bring the planes up.
Make turbines for 20 knots.
Full ahead together.
Planes to full rise.
Full ahead together.
Keep ten up.
Speed 20 knots.
Pavel, wedge!
Hold it steady! Go!
Go, go, go!
- The rupture is sealed, Captain.
- Excellent.
I recommend we stay
at safe depth, Captain.
How thick is the ice here?
Kornilov? Ice recon.
Come on, come on.
Less than one meter
in this area, Captain.
These reports are almost a week old.
At this time of year the ice only
gets thinner. Continue surfacing.
I'm not sure if we can control
an ascent this fast, Captain.
Neither am I.
Blow main ballast!
She's started to roll!
Request permission to hold
at safe depth, Captain.
- Denied.
- 90 meters!
Pump room! Are we pumping
the trim tanks?
She's rolling to port!
Blow port. Shut starboard.
Changing air supply.
- 60 meters!
- Stop turbines!
Stop both turbines!
- Level off, dammit!
- 40 meters!
- Brace for impact!
- Brace for impact!
Brace for impact.
Demichev.
Demichev! Take the conn.
Raise the radio and radar masts.
Give them three sweeps.
Medium range.
Prepare to fire the test missile.
Prepare to launch test missile.
This is not a drill.
Central command,
missile control manned and ready.
Preparing silo three
for firing test missile.
Power up console for missile launch!
Number three launch door opening.
Captain, Moscow confirms
test missile launch authority.
Attention!
Initiating power up.
Very well.
Fueling in progress!
Simulate activation
of the warhead number three missile.
Let's go. Come on.
- Contact?
- No contact.
Radar, sonar...
contact?
- No contact.
- No contact!
Fueling complete.
Table elevated.
Ready for firing sequence.
Fire missile three.
Time to launch...
Confirm missile away, Captain!
Congratulations, Comrade Captain.
We just wrote our names
into the history books.
- Kornilov?
- Captain.
Confirm successful
missile launch to fleet command.
Yes, Captain.
This is the Captain.
We have launched our test missile.
All hands stand down
from combat stations.
Yes!
Yeah!
You will be in my report
for leaving your post.
And you will be in mine!
You endangered
this boat and its crew.
are depending on us,
on us, Captain Vostrikov,
to save them from nuclear attack.
You risked them too!
I took this boat and these men
to the edge
because we need to know where it is.
This 120 men are a crew now
because they achieved something
they did not think they could do.
Next time, when it is not a drill,
they will go to the edge and past it,
and die, if necessary, because that is
what their duty demands of them.
You were lucky, Captain.
This time.
I hope I'm on another boat
when your luck runs out.
Yevgeny!
Come on!
Vasily!
Maxim!
Misha, Yelstin, come on, quick.
Everybody.
Get that laundry out of there!
All the crewmen around the flag.
Get that laundry out of there!
Branan, you asleep?
On the double. Get closer.
Over here.
Everybody, move, yes...
Closer, closer.
Move closer!
Winning team closer.
Dimitri! Smile!
Good.
Everything all right? Problems?
Er...no.
No. Yes.
There was residual condensation
in the reactor compartment.
I shut down number three generator.
That should reduce the condensation.
- I'm counting on you, you know?
- Yes, Comrade Captain.
Comrade Captain.
Message from command.
Comrade Commander!
The crew is lined up to your order.
We have received
a message from Moscow.
They congratulate us on the
successful launch of our test missile.
- We have proved our readiness.
- Serving the Soviet Union!
And now they honor us
with a new assignment.
K-19 is to assume missile patrol
along the eastern seaboard
of the United States.
This is a mission
of critical strategic importance.
The boat will come
to full operational status.
Do your best.
I expect nothing less.
Hoorah!
Crew dismissed!
He nearly got us killed today.
And for what? To show the men
he didn't win his bars
marrying a Politburo member's niece.
You're still our Captain, Misha.
And the only one we trust.
- Captain Polenin.
- Yes.
Captain Vostrikov wants
to see you in the chart room.
Yes.
Misha!
Command wants us on station
as quickly as possible.
Our course will take us past
the NATO base at Jan Mayan,
and from there to our patrol zone,
between Washington...
...and New York.
- Make turns for 15 knots.
- Speed 15 knots.
Speed 15 knots.
- No contact. Down scope.
- Periscope going down!
Dive the boat.
Andrei, more wine!
You only get one glass.
But because
we're the crme de la crme,
a glass of red wine with dinner
is the headquarters' way of telling us
that the K-19's crew has no equal.
No, it's because
we're sitting on a pile of uranium.
Red wine gives you strontium.
Or takes it away. Or something.
Something good.
We should be 70 miles
from Jan Mayan NATO base.
One mountain. No trees.
Fifteen men, one radio station.
I've seen that island
many times.
- Misha.
- Yevgeny.
What's the matter?
I miss seeing the trees,
seeing the sun, the stars.
You'll get used to being underwater.
When I muster out, I'll just work
in the coal mine with my brothers.
So it's all the same to me.
A loss of pressure in
the primary circuit on the aft reactor.
Check the other sensors.
Confirm loss of pressure, Lieutenant.
Let me through. Watch out!
We've got a leak!
Get me the emergency manual!
Come on!
I noticed the pumps were drawing too
much power during the turbine tests.
But I didn't think it was serious.
Out of my way!
Move!
The control rods
are dropping, Lieutenant.
- Auxiliary pumps.
- Pavel, auxiliary pumps!
- They aren't working.
- Recycle them!
I have.
But pressure's dropping.
Confirm.
But the rods will cool it, right?
No! They can't control the reaction
by themselves. They need coolant.
Lieutenant, the core temperature
is at 400 degrees and rising!
Cut the equalization!
What's the problem?
The primary coolant loop
on the aft reactor is ruptured.
- What? How did this happen?
- What difference does it make?
- Answer me. How did this happen?
- I don't know. The core is heating up.
- The mission's over.
- I'll tell you when the mission is over.
Who's responsible for this?
I want a name.
I'll give you a name.
Vostrikov, Alexei.
Watch yourself, Comrade.
And here's another name.
Radtchenko, Vadim.
The untested reactor officer
you put on this boat.
We will fix this problem.
We will continue the mission.
- Surface. Surface the boat!
- Surface the boat!
- How bad is it?
- The leak is in the sealed area.
There's no way to get to it.
The temperature will keep rising
till it reaches 1,000 degrees.
- And...
- And?
And what?
No one knows.
It could start a chain reaction.
There would be radiation leakage,
the core would melt the reactor
and start a thermonuclear explosion.
- How long do we have?
- Three or four hours.
It could be less.
Get whoever you need,
regardless of rank, and solve this.
- Yes, Comrade Captain.
- Solve this!
That's why you're here,
you understand?
Get up!
Get up!
Doesn't he ever get tired of drills?
Let's go! Let's go!
This is the Captain.
We've had a malfunction
in the aft reactor.
Measures are being taken
to correct the situation.
Remain at your stations.
Read it again.
But this doesn't work.
Reflux valve isn't here.
- What measures?
- There are no measures. It's useless.
The rest is about the backup system
which was never installed.
When we reached periscope depth
we need to speak to fleet command.
Yes, Comrade Captain.
Why can't we just
shut the reactor down?
We have shut it down, but we can't
control the reaction anymore.
Suppose we use the forward reactor.
Cross-connect its pumps.
Use them to cool both.
The rupture is not accessible
so we can't seal the leak.
And we'd have two reactors
out of control.
So...we still have to cool down
the reactor.
- Permission to speak, Lieutenant.
- Of course.
The coolant is just distilled water.
We have 30 tones
of fresh water on board.
Yes. But, how do we get it
to the core?
Pass the schematic.
Kornilov. I need contact
with fleet command. Now.
Still trying, Captain.
The air release pipe can deliver
coolant deep enough to the core.
We can hack off the valve and pump
in the fresh water supply.
We've got 30 tones, Captain.
There are some high grade pipes
in the torpedoes.
It's not much to weld.
Thirty minutes at the most.
- And if we can't fix it?
- Hiroshima.
the two reactors and the warheads.
Hiroshima was less, it was a lot less.
Scuttle the boat.
Get the men off in rafts.
We'll not abandon this boat.
Scavenge the pipes.
We'll be ready when authorization
comes through. Let's go.
- Have you reached fleet command?
- No, Comrade Captain.
Captain, the long-range antenna
feeder has shorted out.
The seal must have ruptured
when we submerged.
What's the range of the emergency
transmitters? 90 kilometers?
Up to 100 kilometers, Captain.
Core temperature at 490 degrees.
That's it. Take it, Dimitri.
I'll take it, Captain.
Make sure no debris
gets into the pipes.
Lay out the piping in straight runs.
- Where is the hacksaw?
- May I have your attention?
Men, listen!
The reactor unit will affect the
repairs. You will go in teams of two.
- Ten minutes inside, maximum.
- I will go in the first team.
No, I need my executive officer
to command.
- Yes, but under these circumstances.
- I am aware of the circumstances!
It's out of the question.
I'll go in the first team.
- It's my duty.
- I am ready to serve, Captain.
Vadim. Vadim!
You will go in with the third team
to inspect the repair.
Yes, Comrade Captain.
That is all. Carry on.
Quick! Get something!
Quick!
- Fuel spill!
- Fuel spill in aft torpedo!
Chief? Toolbox.
Feed water system isolated!
- Vent off the feed water tank!
- I've got three more meters here!
Meat...
Just beef, falling off the bone.
Nice and tender. Melts in your mouth.
- Dumplings.
- Dumplings? Dimitri likes...
Hey, Dimitri likes dumplings.
Reactor temperature?
- Vasily! How long?
- I'd say about 15 minutes, Captain.
Good work!
- Comrade Captain.
- Yes.
Our equipment is prepared
and we're standing by to enter.
We have a few minutes.
Take the men up top. Get some air.
Thank you.
You heard him. Get some air.
Lieutenant.
Go on.
I was getting married.
You will. You will.
Your hair falls out
or something like that.
- It won't be that bad.
- Ten minutes is nothing.
An hour later and our watch
would have been over.
It's fate.
We don't have radiation suits?
The warehouse was out.
They sent chemical suits instead.
- They might as well wear raincoats!
- Misha, I know.
- Tell the men these will help.
- What else can we do?
It's only ten minutes. Ten minutes.
Do what you can and get out?
All right, Anatoly?
Okay? Good.
You'll be fine.
Captain.
Men...
this difficult task has fallen to you.
Our fate is in your hands.
Request permission to carry out
reactor repair, Captain.
Permission granted.
May God be with you.
What's the core temperature?
Entering airlock.
Come on, Anatoly. Easy.
How is it in there?
Doctor. Take them to bow torpedo.
Keep them as far away
from the radiation as possible.
- How do you feel?
- It's all right.
Good. Give me his dosimeter.
- His radiation level is low, yes?
- Yes, of course.
Report to me on their condition
in an hour.
Good news, Anatoly.
You got a mild dose.
All right. All right. Gently.
- It's time.
- Comrades, it's time.
Put your mask on.
Hey, hey, come on, let's go.
Ten minutes. Look at me.
Come on, wake up.
Vadim! It's time to go!
Go, go.
It's all right.
Chief.
Chief Gorelov's gone in his place.
Good boy.
Captain.
You sent for me?
Yes.
We won't fire any missiles. Do you
know how to take radiation readings?
Yes, Comrade Captain.
I want readings
from all compartments.
Yes, Captain.
- Temperature?
- 925 degrees.
How long?
Seven minutes 40 seconds.
Easy, easy.
Sit him down.
Chief!
Chief?
- Gorelov?
- Yes. Konstantin's getting him.
He's getting him.
You did good. You did good.
He's getting him.
Yes, yes.
It's flowing.
It's flowing.
The coolant is flowing.
Tell the Captain the coolant is flowing.
You did it.
Oleg, you did it.
Chief!
You did it, my boy.
You did it, my boy.
You did it.
Yeah, you showed them.
You showed them.
Easy, easy.
Kornilov? Give him a hand.
Gently, gently.
- Come on.
- I'll help you, mate.
Captain!
- Captain.
- Chief.
This is the Captain. The reactor
appears to be under control.
Our thanks to Chief Engineer Gorelov,
and the third watch reactor unit.
For a job well done.
Rest, boy.
- Ship's head?
- 2-2-0, Captain.
Turn the boat around.
Come to a heading of 0-4-0.
Forward motor.
Slow ahead.
Starboard 30. Course 0-4-0.
Forward motor. Slow ahead.
Starboard 30.
Steering the course 0-4-0.
Back to base?
With a speed of 5 knots.
Itll take days.
We shall be a ghost ship.
Captain. The men are hungry.
The food is contaminated. Give them
whatever you have in tins or foil.
Give them red wine to slow
the rate of radiation absorption.
Very well, Captain.
Captain. In here
it's only five units.
But in the reactor room
is ten times that.
Turn off the ventilation system.
All compartments
shut down main ventilation.
Captain, if we...
We will run the boat
with skeleton crews.
Put most of the men on top, as far
away from the radiation as possible.
We're 160 kilometers
from the NATO base in Jan Mayan.
We could go there.
Get help from the Americans.
Under no circumstances
will I abandon
my boat or my crew to the enemy.
May I ask then, what is your plan?
We're out of radio contact.
If we stay on our course,
fleet command
will send the diesels to find us.
Radiation levels are rising too fast.
We're just running on electric motors.
There's no time for that.
They will find us.
As usual the Captain leaves
no room for doubt.
Good.
Dimitri.
You're fine.
Good.
You're fine, Yevgeny.
Next.
Good, yes. Excellent.
Icons...
are forbidden.
Contact. Bearing 0-1-5.
Range 2,000 meters, Captain.
Wait. Wait.
Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!
They're Americans.
Captain?
The jackals have found us.
It's an American destroyer.
Captain?
The Americans are contacting us
on the emergency band.
The helicopters reported
our men on deck.
The captain is offering assistance.
Tell them we don't need assistance.
We're just getting some air.
- What are they doing?
- Taking pictures of us.
Hey! Hey, spies!
Take a look at this.
- Take a look at this!
- Everybody.
Look at this lovely butt!
Hey, where are you going?
Offering assistance.
They want this boat.
What a victory that would be.
The waters here are over a mile deep.
We could get the men off. Scuttle
the boat. They'd have to take us.
Captain Polenin's right. We have
life rafts. We can save everyone.
Scuttle the flagship of the fleet?
Present my crew
to the Americans for interrogation.
Your duty now is clear.
You must save their lives.
My duty is to defend the state.
I will do that
to my last dying breath.
You're defending nothing
but your own ambition.
Tell that to the men who are dying.
Come on, tell them!
There will be no more talk
of surrendering to the Americans.
It is treason. Say it again
and I will confine you to your quarters.
And you...you are the Commissar,
representative of the party.
- Responsible for crew morale.
- Yes, Captain.
Then act like it. The crew needs you
to show courage not fear.
- Fear is contagious.
- Yes, Captain.
- Kornilov.
- Yes, Captain.
Stop monitoring the Americans.
They are the enemy.
Yes, Captain.
Help me.
Please.
How are the men?
How would I know?
I don't know
about radiation sickness.
Please.
I'm giving them aspirin.
I'm trying to prevent
those that are dying
from irradiating those of us
that still have some hope.
Pull yourself together.
You are an officer in the Soviet Navy.
Go back and tell them
that they're improving.
As you say, you know nothing
about radiation sickness.
Perhaps they are.
- Captain?
- Yes.
Readings are rising
in every compartment now.
Misha?
- Comrade Suslov.
- What is it?
The radiation
is going to kill us all.
The political branch
gives you the authority
to approve any change of command.
Only in extreme cases
of dereliction of duty.
Which this is. He's suffering
from radiation poisoning himself.
His judgment is impaired
or he would get the men off the boat.
When the moment comes
we will know it.
The weld is giving way!
- Core temperature 450 and rising!
- Captain!
The reactor repair has failed.
- Captain!
- Core temperature 450 and rising!
This is the Captain.
All hands below decks.
Prepare for emergency descent.
All hands below! All hands below!
Diving stations! Diving Stations!
Get the bulkhead doors shut!
I am not going back down!
I am not going down!
All hands to diving stations.
Move, move! Come on!
We have to go now! Andrei!
Andrei, no!
What are you doing?
Diving now! Diving now!
Move! Get in!
- No, Andrei!
- Get in the hatch! It's an order! Move!
We can't leave him,
he'll never make it!
Are the Americans still offering
assistance on the emergency band?
- The Captain said not to...
- Check.
They're still there.
Why is he diving?
He's going to cook us.
- No, I won't go!
- Yevgeny!
Prepare the tank! Quickly!
Give it to me!
- Come on, let's go.
- This is bullshit! Put me down!
Fire in aft torpedo!
Aft torpedo! Dimitri? Vasily?
- Report!
- Fire in aft torpedo.
We have no communication.
Our fire team is suiting up.
- Activate fire suppression.
- That would kill everybody in there.
If torpedoes go off, it'll kill
everyone. They have breathing kits.
They don't. We took the oxygen
for the reactor team.
- Give the fire team some time.
- Activate the system.
The primary wasn't connected.
It must be activated locally.
Go to nine and turn on the system.
You refuse my order?
I'll do it myself.
If you leave the command center,
I will get help from the Americans
and you will be in no position
to stop me.
If we can't handle it.
I'll switch on the suppression system.
Get the fire out. Quickly!
Why aren't we diving?
Under the authority
given to me by the Party
you are hereby removed
from your post for dereliction of duty.
Isolate electrical!
You're wasting time.
Get a team to repair the reactor.
- Torpedo number eight!
- Torpedo number eight!
Stop the water!
Kornilov. Tell the Americans
we're evacuating the submarine
and will require assistance.
Send the message!
US destroyer.
This is Soviet submarine. Over.
Comrade Admiral.
General Vershinin, KGB.
I want to know
if your man Vostrikov is a traitor.
All we know is that K-19
has broken off radio contact.
Broken radio contact with us.
A reconnaissance plane has spotted
a destroyer shadowing K-19.
An American destroyer.
Vasily?
Vasily.
Captain Polenin
to central command.
Repeat. Captain Polenin
to central command.
Captain Polenin to central command.
Repeat. Captain Polenin
to central command.
- 575 degrees and rising.
- Shut up!
You have no idea
what you're doing.
Easy, easy.
- Who is it?
- It's Dimitri.
Captain Polenin to central command.
- Captain Polenin!
- Do what you can, Vanya.
Central command. Immediately!
- Five men have...
- Captain Polenin.
I have exercised my authority
to transfer the boat to your command.
You're our captain
and always have been.
We've contacted the Americans.
All we need is your order
to abandon the ship.
Good.
Good.
Weapons don't belong here.
Give them to me.
Give me the gun.
And the key for the handcuffs.
Come on.
- Give it to me. This boat's a family.
- Of course, Captain.
And the key for the handcuffs.
- Suslov?
- Captain.
You betray your family.
You betray me.
You're under arrest.
- What?
- Both of you. Get out of my sight.
Take the gun!
Lock them in their quarters! Move!
It is treason.
Misha! Misha!
The fire in compartment ten
has been extinguished.
The suppression system
was not required.
Unfortunately,
there was only one survivor.
Thank you.
- Captain.
- Captain.
We have to dive.
This is the Captain.
Don't order them, Captain.
Ask them.
This is the Captain.
Our situation is desperate.
The reactor repair has failed.
At any moment
we could have an explosion
which could set off the warheads.
This would destroy
the American ship, only...
a few kilometers
from the NATO base.
Given the current level of tensions
between our countries,
this could result in horrifying
retaliatory attacks on the motherland.
We...we could dive
and attempt to repair the reactor,
but there are no guarantees.
I am standing by.
Secure both bulkhead doors.
Compartment ten isolated.
Compartment nine clear of smoke.
Manned and ready.
Compartment eight, serving
the Soviet Union, Comrade Captain.
Compartment seven, standing by
to do our duty, Captain.
Compartment five, manned and ready.
Compartment four,
we await your orders, Captain.
Compartment one,
we are with you, Captain.
Ready to dive, Captain.
- Dive the boat.
- Dive the boat!
Make her depth 300 meters.
Keep five degrees.
- Flood all main ballasts.
- Flood all main ballasts!
Electric motors full ahead together.
- Full ahead together!
- Keep five degrees bow down.
Radtchenko.
Lieutenant Radtchenko.
Lieutenant Radtchenko. Report.
Captain.
Reactor temperature
is 760 degrees and rising.
Lieutenant Radtchenko.
Vadim.
- Where is he?
- He's inside.
How long has he been in there?
- 18 minutes.
- 18.
- Captain! You can't go in...
- Secure the hatch!
Vadim!
I can't see! I can't see!
Captain. I'm sorry.
Open the hatch!
- 280 meters.
- Level off.
Coming through.
Open the bulkhead door!
He got a terrible dose.
Who's going in next?
Captain. The temperature's falling.
He did it.
He turned himself into a hero.
Surface the boat!
Blow the main ballast! Rise the
planes. Keep 15 degrees by the bow.
Motors at full ahead together.
- You have the conn.
- Full raise. 15 degrees by the bow.
I have the conn.
Signal the American Captain
as soon as we surface.
Tell him we require his assistance.
- Yes, Captain.
- Yes, Captain.
- Up periscope!
- Periscope going up!
Men...
you have done your duty
for the motherland.
The Party is proud of you.
I am...
I am proud of you.
Captain?
Captain?
Yes, Vadim. I'm here.
The weld, is it holding?
Yes, Vadim.
The weld is holding.
You're a hero, Vadim. Do you hear?
You're a hero.
You are all...
all of you...
heroes.
I had hoped one of our boats
would find us.
But the radiation levels
are rising too quickly.
I have asked the American captain...
for his help.
Prepare to abandon the boat.
American destroyer. Bearing 0-4-5.
Range 2,000 meters.
Captain, I have a contact!
- What the...?
- Captain!
- The boat could be in trouble.
- What sort of trouble?
I've known Captain Vostrikov
personally for half his life.
There isn't a submariner in the navy
whose loyalty I trust more.
More than his father's loyalty?
I never knew his father.
Captain!
Captain!
When my father went to sea
he used to carry these great handfuls
of dirt in his pockets.
A bit of the motherland, he said.
He would rather die
than betray his country.
Contact me from the bridge
when the last lifeboat is loaded.
I'll sink the boat.
The Americans won't get her.
That won't be necessary, Captain.
Our submarine S270 has found us.
Yes.
Confirm and out.
Reply from Moscow, Captain,
sent through S270.
Your request to remove the men
from the boat is denied, Captain.
They're sending a freighter
to tow us back to base.
Anything else?
They said...
they said to give the men
plenty of fresh fruit.
I want my men off this boat.
I am countermanding Moscow.
You know that will be
the end of your career?
They'll send you to the Gulag.
Like your father.
Well, it's a family tradition, isn't it?
Let's go. Let's go.
Come on.
Easy.
Good. Good.
You must be decontaminated,
you understand?
We must make you clean.
It's cold but you'll be warmer inside.
You must take your clothes off.
We will decontaminate you.
and destroy the clothes.
Then you can go down below.
- Take off your pants.
- Next!
Easy.
Be careful there!
This is your boat, Misha.
I lost my position, Yuri,
but not my self-respect.
You lost both.
- Where am I going?
- They're taking you across, Vadim.
I need my picture of Katya.
- Where is it?
- In my pocket.
Here you are.
There it is.
I can't see!
I can't see her!
All men accounted for, Captain.
Why didn't you take command
when you had the chance?
Because what they did was wrong.
Prepare the tow, Captain.
Captain.
Get all these men up! Move!
Lev, you're a welcome sight!
Moscow said you were defecting
with your boat.
- What?
- They want a list of the men
fit enough to testify.
Testify? About what?
About you.
- Alexei.
- Make sure all the lines are secure!
- Come on, you're going home.
- Thank you, Doctor. We did it.
We're going home.
Let's go home.
At every stage of this disaster,
which came within moments
of being a far greater disaster,
the officers and crew did
what had to be done.
Seven are now dead.
And nobody knows how many more
are dying or how fast.
These are the men
who returned home to be interrogated
as if a crime had been committed.
Questioned, even while undergoing
treatment for radiation poisoning.
Locked up and denied access
to wives and families.
But they and their comrades
saved K-19.
And maybe...
just maybe...they saved
all of you as well.
Thank you, Captain Polenin.
- One thing more, please.
- Thank you.
No captain in the Soviet Navy
has ever been faced
with such decisions.
The fate of the boat, the crew...
the fate of the world.
All in the balance.
The navy is my life.
And one thing I know. There can be
only one captain of a ship.
The burden of command
is on his shoulders and his alone.
None of you...
none of you has the right
to judge Captain Vostrikov.
You weren't there.
I was.
He was our captain.
He was my captain.
And it would be an honor
to sail under his command again.
East Germany has agreed to do
what the west has been demanding
for more than a generation.
After opening up the Berlin wall
the government announced
it will hold democratic elections.
You're not so tall as I remember.
It's good to see you.
And you.
Please.
I'm glad you found me.
But today was, in fact,
not very convenient.
No, no. It had to be today.
Your crew.
It was 28 years ago today.
Captain. A toast.
To the men still on patrol.
For their courage
I nominated these men
for the title
"Hero of the Soviet Union".
But the committee ruled
that because it was not wartime...
because it was merely an accident...
they were not worthy
of the title "Hero".
What good are honors
from such people?
These men sacrificed
not for a medal...
but because when the time came...
it was their duty.
Not to the navy or to the state
but to us.
Their comrades.
And so...
- To comrades.
- To comrades!