Watch the door. Try not to touch anything.
Did you know that ordinary house dust is composed...
primarily of human skin?
No, sir, I didn't know that.
Makes you think twice about who you invite into your home.
Two tablespoons of machine oil can contaminate...
an entire ship's...
fresh water supply.
Some things just don't mix.
Do they...
chief?
He's gonna pass.
Yesterday, he scored a 94 on his final.
He don't have to be fast tomorrow.
All he's got to do is complete the exercise.
Billy...
there may come a day when a colored diver graduates from here...
but it won't be tomorrow, or as long as l' m here.
You agree with me, of course.
Don't you, chief?
Yes, sir.
Baseball season's over.
I figured Rourke.
I never let myself think--
- Why not? - Because I saw your last dive.
You want to know what I am?
I' m the sorry son of a bitch put here to get through your skull...
that some things do not change.
- I deserve to pass. - When does deserving mean anything?
They ain't gonna have you.
In their eyes, you'll never be as good as them.
- So you' re failing. - No, you are.
You think I owe you something?
I don't owe you a goddamn fucking thing!
You or anybody else. You got fucked, Cookie.
You were right, chief. You and I have nothing in common.
I may be some dumb nigger from Podunk but I'm making something of myself.
You're the same hateful little man as you started out as.
Without diving you're nothing...
but a son of a bitch who used to be something.
What did he say to make you try so hard?
" Be the best. "
Well, you are.
Just don't show up tomorrow.
Pappy ain't going to let you pass.
What about you, chief?
T oday will decide which of you will become Navy divers.
The object of the test is to correctly assemble this flange underwater.
The pieces required for assembly are on the river bottom.
Once you locate your project flange...
you will call for your tools. They will be lowered to you.
You will be timed and accrue points for a speedy completion.
However, we will pump air to you for as long as you can stand the cold.
So take your time and get it right.
If you do not complete the flange...
you have just wasted six months of your life.
Divers, square yourselves away and approach the rail.
T opside, I have located my work light.
T opside, blue diver.
I have located my project and request my tool bag.
Topside, this is red diver. I have located my project...
Tenders, lower your tool bags.
T opside, blue diver. I' m still waiting on my tool bag.
Blue diver, your tool bag is on the river bottom.
Chief, start the project time on all divers.
Machinist's Mate Rourke...
one hour, 37 minutes. Perfect assembly.
Surveyor Second Class Yarmouth...
two hours, 19 minutes. Perfect assembly.
Never thought I'd live to see it.
Four hours, nine minutes. Better late than never, Crofoot.
Perfect assembly. How's the water down there?
Colder than a well digger's ass, chief.
T ake it inside.
What do you mean, still not up?
Excuse me.
- Dive station. - Chief Sunday...
we have every cook and shine boy thinking they'll be next...
to try a stunt like this, so you listen up.
Don't bring him up till he stops moving.
He's near dead now, sir.
Not till he stops moving, chief!
Give up, Cookie.
You go into shock, you might not wake up.
Come on now. This ain 't worth dying for.
My name is...
Boatswain's Mate...
Second Class...
Carl Brashear.
I am a Navy diver.
Bring him up.
- Bring him up! - I got him.
- We'll bring him home. - Sailor!
Disregard that order!
Sailor! Sailor!
Chief Sunday, effective immediately...
I am relieving you of your duties!
Do you hear me, chief?!
Haul in that line.
Come on, Brashear. You' re almost there.
A few more steps.
Come on. We'll help you.
Open up.
Boatswain's Mate Carl Brashear...
nine hours, 31minutes.
Perfect assembly.
Get him inside.
- Carl, did, did-- - Slow down, Snowhill.
They put me back in the program. I start training next week.
Congratulations.
Thanks, Carl.
I almost forgot.
- You hear about Sunday? - No.
Mr. Pappy blew a gasket when the son of a bitch passed you.
He busted him down a stripe and shipped him out.
I guess that fucker got his in the end.
I guess he did.
From the gentleman.
You hate champagne.
- You got a diving assignment. - Brooklyn Navy Yard, standby diver.
Brooklyn? Brooklyn.
Baby, we can have dinner like an old married couple.
Oh, well, baby, I didn't take the job.
We waited three years for that slot to open up.
I don't move up in rank unless I dive.
I won't make master as a standby.
I'll find something else.
I'm three months late.
Late for what?
You' re going to have a...? A real baby?
We' re gonna have a baby!
We' re gonna have a real baby!
We' re gonna have a baby!
Ladies, gentlemen, and the rest of you lowdown cats...
it's time to ring in the New Year.
Happy New Year.
You have to let them know who's boss.
Or they'll never salute you the rest of your life.
Excuse me.
What'd I tell you, hon? He don't remember me.
Senior Chief Sunday, U. S. S. Hoist.
You ended my diving career, lieutenant.
Lieutenant Commander...
Hanks. Pleased to meet you.
That was a long time ago, chief.
Ancient history.
Well, we just came by to say hey.
- Auld lang syne and all. - Auld lang syne.
I didn't know you had a daughter.
Right.
She's quite lovely.
We gotta go now, because Billy's gonna dance with me.
Happy New Year.
- Have fun. - Come on, Billy.
You' re gonna dance with your lovely wife, right?
See? Now wasn't that easy?
- Has-been. - Yes.
No. Billy.
He's the biggest drunk in the Navy is all.
Senior Chief Sunday...
you violated Article 90 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice:
Assaulting a superior commission officer.
Your conduct is completely unacceptable.
You're fined one half month's pay for six months...
restricted to the base for two months...
and are hereby reduced in rank to chief petty officer.
For those just joining us, our top story continues...
thousands of miles away in the Mediterranean Sea.
Hours ago, an American B-52 bomber flying a routine mission...
over the coast of Spain slammed into the Spanish countryside.
Moments before, the bomber's crew jettisoned their nuclear payload.
Three 50-megaton warheads parachuted to Earth.
Two were recovered. However, a third hydrogen bomb remains lost at sea.
You made it.
Becky, get your toys. Your daddy will be home soon.
Investigating in deep water will be the work of ALVIN...
a two-man submersible on loan from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
As Navy ships comb the Mediterranean in search of the warhead...
so do Russian submarines.
Since the bomb disappeared in international waters...
it belongs to whoever finds it.
Charged with locating it before the Soviets...
are the elite Navy deep-sea divers pictured here.
Stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, the divers were flown here hours ago...
many still dressed in the uniforms they had on this morning.
Blue diver, this is captain.
Blue diver, come in.
I' m here, Hart. What do you need?
Carl, I'd appreciate it if you could find my lost nuke for me.
I'd like to make admiral before I die.
I' m doing my best, Hart.
I have an unidentified metal object protruding from the bottom.
He has something. Proceed with caution.
Roger that.
T opside, we have a Coke can.
Goddamn Coke can.
Bring it up anyway, chief. I like my ocean clean.
T urn sonar off. A diver's down--
- That's not our sonar. - What?
Shit.
Alpha Whiskey, this is Charlie Victor.
I've got an unknown object. Probable submarine.
Blue diver, we have an unknown contact.
Probable Russian sub. Bearing at 209...
at 16 knots and headed directly for you.
Take immediate evasive action. Immediate evasive action.
Prepare for emergency surface. Blue diver, do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Blue diver?
Talk to me, Carl.
Come in, blue diver.
Tell the dive station to supply a standby.
Come in, Carl.
Come on, Carl.
Carl, do you read me?
I' m here, captain.
He's there.
Prepare to surface, Carl. We' re bringing you home.
Next time you scare the shit out of me give me a courtesy warning first.
Captain, the sub kicked up half the ocean bottom.
It found it for us!
You' re kidding.
Oh, yeah!
He thinks he found it.
Yeah, you got it. That's it.
Steady!
Steady. Let's take it in. Bring it up.
Let's go now.
Move!
Jo.
I was so scared.
I' m sorry.
Oh, shit.
Your leg...
was nearly severed.
It's gonna take time to heal.
Eventually, you' re gonna be able to walk again, with a cane.
Can I still dive?
I'm so sorry.
Come home, Carl.
Your husband was found drunk on a public beach this morning.
He's an alcoholic and must remain here in detox for 30 days.
If he should stagger, he will not fall!
If he should fall, he will fall in such a manner...
as to cover up his rate...
so that passersby will think he is an officer!
A chief petty officer shall not drink.
However, if he should drink, he shall not get drunk.
If he should get drunk, he shall not stagger!
If he should stagger, he shall not fall!
And if he should fall, he will fall in such a manner...
as to cover up his rate, so passersby will think he's an officer!
We' re all extremely proud of you, Chief Brashear.
Now get better so you can go home and enjoy your retirement.
Give us a smile, chief.
- How will you spend retirement? - How's it feel to be a hero?
Hey, you.
Sweetheart...
you'll never dive again.
And what you gotta do now...
I can't help you with.
But when you' re ready to leave...
and if you can promise me you'll never take another drink again...
I'll be waiting for you in that car over there.
But if you can't...
then you just walk on by.
Package for you, sir.
I want to come back.
- To where, chief? - Full diving duty.
I want to dive again.
Carl...
- I understand but... - But...
it's just not possible.
Good afternoon, admiral.
- Carl, this is-- - Captain Hanks.
Chief Brashear.
Captain Hanks is the senior officer...
of the Personnel Policy Control Board at the Pentagon.
He'll be with us a few weeks...
meeting some of the men from the front lines, hearing their concerns.
To return to the chief's primary concern.
Working as a Navy diver with one good leg and the other...
I' m sorry, it's just not possible.
Cut it off.
"lnjured pilots have requested amputation of injured limbs.
With a prosthesis, several have returned to duty. "
I'm asking this:
Cut off my leg and assemble a medical review board 12 weeks from today.
Then I will demonstrate that I am fit to return to full diving duty.
I want to make master chief.
We admire your courage, chief, however misplaced it may be.
Please excuse us.
I am a doctor, Carl.
My opinion might mean something here.
I guess not.
How will you come back with one leg?
I could barely read once. I found a way.
I could put up with the months at sea...
the dangerous assignments you never refused.
- But this? - What do you want from me?
That I come home, mow the lawn, put a wheelchair ramp in?
- How am I gonna look at my son? - Leave him out of this.
You' re not doing this for him or me. This is about you.
It's always been about you.
Admit it, Carl.
At least give me that much.
Why are you doing this to me?
Answer me, goddamn it!
Or I'm walking out of here and I am not coming back.
I love you, Jo.
Get away! Get away from me!
Piece of shit!
Cookie.
Goddamn. Looks like I missed one hell of a party.
I've been all over.
Trouble, mostly.
Navy gave me a second-class diving school in Little Creek.
Don't amount to shit.
I made some calls.
On Friday, that Captain Hanks...
is convening a medical review board and he's gonna retire you.
- He said I had 4 weeks. - He lied, Cookie.
He don't care how many one-legged pushups you can do.
He'd trade you and me and every other sea dog...
for one glass-eyed electronics technician.
The man's gonna retire your ass.
My leg's back. I ain't done yet.
You got a stump on a stick and no chance of beating Hanks, son.
- All I wanted was to be master diver. - All I wanted was to stay one.
You want to beat Hanks, you got to go around him...
right to the top.
Washington.
- Chief of naval personnel. - That's right.
They don't like cocky pencil pushers like Hanks any more than we do.
I might be able to pull a few strings.
Why are you doing this, Sunday?
Piss people off.
Chief Decker, you are the chief master at arms...
of this hospital?
Yes, sir.
Then why is it you don't know where Chief Brashear is?
He shouldn't be too hard to spot.
He's the only negro diver in the Navy...
and he's got one leg.
It seems that the chief has transferred, sir.
- On whose orders? - He signed his own, sir.
Call the shore patrol.
Relax, cap. We just want to talk.
Wait, wait, wait.
You know where Chief Brashear is. Where?
I see. Fine.
Chief Brashear is AWOL. I want him found and arrested now.
You ain't gonna find him.
What do you want?
Four weeks to train him, then a reinstatement hearing...
with the chief of naval personnel.
- The chief of...? - Yes, sir.
- ln Washington? - That's right.
Forget it.
- Will the diver be reinstated? - Will he get a hearing?
Seems Chief Brashear losing his leg for his country makes him a hero, sir.
Fine.
I will grant you your hearing...
on one condition.
When he fails, you retire.
He ain't gonna fail.
Minute five faster.
See you in court.
Captain Hanks ordered you to remain here, chief.
Please be seated, Senior Chief Brashear.
Only the Army salutes indoors, senior chief.
The Navy I grew up in warrants a salute...
given the gravity of this occasion.
Well...
we' re in a new Navy now.
Shall we begin?
Do you honestly feel that, as a man...
You' re almost 40.
You have one leg.
Can you really keep up with healthy divers half your age?
The question is, sir:
Can they keep up with me?
No smoking, chief.
Navy diving studies indicate that if a subject were to become...
unconscious or deceased...
the disparity between the buoyancy of a prosthetic...
and a limb would hinder him in a free dive mode.
You mean if he drowned, he wouldn't float right, yes?
Sirs, I promise if I am killed at sea...
I will make every effort to die like a Navy man.
You should see the future of Navy deep-sea diving.
This is the latest He/O2, mixed gas rig.
It weighs 290 pounds.
Men who want to use it, before starting diving training, must walk...
twelve steps unassisted.
Could you do that, Senior Chief Brashear?
Yes, sir, I could.
Well...
I see.
Much as I hate to prolong this...
in the interest of thoroughness, I'll make arrangements...
for you to demonstrate.
Here, sir.
Now.
Son, step aside, or I'll crack you in the jaw.
- This is hardly the appropriate venue. - I want them all to see, sir.
Captain, I concur with your assessment.
These slippery floors prohibit a demonstration.
Haven't you had enough career trouble?
Your advice and presence are unwelcome.
- Who is this man? - Chief Leslie W. Sunday, sir.
You swam out of the Saint Lo at Leyte Gulf.
Held your breath for...
- four minutes. - Five, sir.
He can stay.
Fine. Irrelevant.
Gentlemen, sirs, returning to the issue at hand...
this is not the time or place for Senior Chief Bra--
Excuse me, senior chief. Is there a problem?
Captain Hanks...
I've spent my life in the Navy trying only to succeed.
But my quest has caused great personal loss to those who love me.
They too have made sacrifices.
They too have endured great pains to support me.
If I walk these 12 steps today...
reinstate me to active duty.
Give me my career back.
Let me finish it, and go home in peace.
Senior Chief Brashear, the business of the modern Navy--
Forgive me, sir, but to me the Navy is not a business.
We have many traditions. In my career, I've experienced most of them.
Some good, some bad.
However, I wouldn't be here today if not for our greatest tradition.
And which one is that?
Honor, sir.
Get on with it, senior chief.
Leslie?
What leg you got on?
My walking leg...
Leslie.
It was my dad's name. Got a problem?
Oh, no, no problem at all.
That thing's light duty. It'll snap like a matchstick.
- I'll put my weight on my good leg. - 290 pounds on one leg?
You'll be passed out by the sixth step.
Tenders, hat the diver.
Navy diver, stand up.
Leave him.
Captain, if I recall Navy regulations, the diver may be helped to his feet.
It's a lot of brass to sling up from a seated position.
It's spun copper, chief. We haven't used brass in a decade.
The new manual states the diver must rise unassisted.
That's what it says in the new book?
If I may ask, captain, how would you know?
I wrote it.
Yes, sir.
Navy diver...
stand up.
Square that rig and approach the rail.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Gentlemen, his leg.
Please.
Gentlemen.
- Navy diver, stand down. - Diver, you will disregard.
- This is my detail. - Admiral?
Goddamn it, Cookie, move your ass! I want my 12.
Nine. The Navy diver is not a fighting man.
He is a salvage expert.
Ten. If it's lost underwater, he finds it.
If it's sunk, he brings it up.
If it's in the way, he moves it.
Eleven. If he's lucky, he'll die young, 200 feet beneath the waves.
For that is the closest he will ever get to being a hero.
Hell, I don't know why anyone would want to be a Navy diver.
Now you report to this line, Cookie.
At ease.
Tenders, unhat that diver.
The United States Navy proudly reinstates...
senior chief and diver...
Carl Brashear to full active duty.
Thank you.
I can quit.
The man I married never quit anything a day in his life.
I love you.
I love you too, baby. I love you too.