Hostile Waters (movie)

''Hostile Waters'' is a British 1997 television film about the loss of the Soviet Navy's '' K-219'', a Yankee I class nuclear ballistic missile sub. The film stars Rutger Hauer as the commander of ''K-219'' and claims to be based on the true story, also described in the 1997 book of the same name. The film was produced by World Productions for the BBC and HBO, in association with Invision Productions and UFA Filmproduktions. It was written by Troy Kennedy Martin and directed by David Drury, and was first transmitted on BBC One on 26 July 1997.

Plot

In 1986, the Soviet Navy submarine '' K-219'' performs a Crazy Ivan, and USS ''Aurora'' collides with her, causing a rupture of the seal on one of its ballistic missile tubes. The leaking seawater causes a corrosive reaction which floods the sub with toxic gas. The corrosive reaction starts a fire that floods the sub with more toxic gas, and smoke.

The captain surfaces the boat and moves the crew out to the deck, and attempts to vent the sub. The chief engineer informs the captain that the fire may cook off the nukes and cause a nuclear explosion. The launch doors are opened on the sub to vent smoke.

''Aurora'' ascertains that a fire is aboard ''K-219'', and informs the Pentagon. The Pentagon, fearing radiological contamination of the Eastern Seaboard, orders ''Aurora'' to prepare to sink ''K-219''. The fact that the launch doors are open on the SLBMs causes consternation in Washington D.C., with calls for the immediate sinking of the sub, should it appear to be preparing to launch.

The captain of ''K-219'' prepares a bold plan to dive with the launch doors open, to flood the missile bay and quench the fires. As the captain dives the sub, ''Aurora'' prepares to fire, assuming ''K-219'' is setting about to launch its missiles. After a brief but heated argument the U.S. commander is convinced to wait before launching and realises that the Soviet sub is diving, rather than launching its SLBMs.

''K-219s tactic works, and the sub resurfaces with the fires out. A new crisis develops: Both nuclear reactors are overheating, and the cooling rods must be lowered manually by two crew members who have only limited oxygen left. The rods are lowered, and both reactors are shut down, averting disaster, but one crew member remains locked inside the reactor room, running out of oxygen. With seawater flooding the submarine, the captain of ''K-219'' decides to abandon ship. Throughout the crisis, Washington insists that no information on the possibility of nuclear fallout along the eastern American coastline be leaked to the Governors and no evacuation plans be activated to protect the population, in order not to derail the forthcoming Reykjavik Summit between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Capt. Britanov and his surviving crew members return safely to Moscow with some crew decorated and he being dismissed from the navy. The Reykjavik Summit takes place as planned.

The film's postscript details that as a legacy almost a decade after the end of the Cold War, fifty one nuclear warheads and seven nuclear reactors from nuclear submarines litter the North Atlantic ocean floor.

Cast

* Rutger Hauer as Captain Igor Britanov
* Martin Sheen as Aurora Skipper
* Max von Sydow as Admiral Chernavin
* Colm Feore as Pshenishny
* Rob Campbell as Sergei Preminin
* Harris Yulin as Admiral Quinn
* Regina Taylor as Lieutenant Curtis
* John Rothman as Aurora Executive Officer
* Michael Attwell as Kuzmenko
* Dominic Monaghan as Sasha
* Peter Guinness as Vladimirov
* James E. Kerr as Aznabaev
* Alexis Denisof as John Baker
* Seamus McQuade as Helmsman
* Paul Birchard as Torpedo Chief
* Oliver Marlo as Doctor
* Mark Drewry as Petrachkov
* Denzil Kilvington as Volnigbirov
* Garry Cooper as Gennady
* Frank Baker as Pumps
* Richard Graham as Belikov
* Joachim Paul Assböck as Tigran Gasparian
* Alexander Wachholz as Martinov
* David King as Admiral 2nd Class
* Todd Boyce as Larry Brock
* Michael Shannon as Admiral
* Sanja Spengler as Britanov's Wife
* Philip Martin Brown as Cook
* J.J. Gordon as Officer 4
* Lawrence Elman as Officer
* Erik Hansen as Naval Marshall
* William Marsh as Acoustics Officer
* Rainer Sellien as Technician
* Norbert Tefelski as Admiral / Engineer
* Felix zu Knyphausen as Sonar Operator
* Frank Witter as Russian Submarine Soldier (uncredited)

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0119320, title=Hostile Waters

1997 television films
1997 films
Cold War submarine films
Films about survivors of seafaring accidents or incidents
HBO Films films
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Seafaring films based on actual events
Science docudramas
Films set in 1986
British docudrama films
Military of Russia in films
Films set in the Atlantic Ocean
1990s British films
British drama television films