Submerged (2001)
Submerged (2001)
Submerged
Inspired by the true story detailed in the bestseller The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas (“Serpico,” “The Valachi Papers”), “Submerged” vividly re-creates the moment-by-moment account of the sinking and rescue of the Squalus, then America’s newest submarine, on the eve of World War II.
In May of 1939 the U.S.S. Squalus was out on a routine test dive. But soon something went horribly wrong and the aft of the sub flooded, killing 29 men. The 140-foot submarine sank like a rock to the bottom of the Atlantic. The 33 survivors huddled in the cold, wet, steel hull praying that someone might find them. That someone was Navy Colonel Charles “Swede” Momsen. Momsen was known in navy circles as the “Jules Verne” of the Atlantic. His wacky inventions, like the “Momsen Lung” (which is the forerunner of modern scuba gear), were viewed as the work of an eccentric. But, when the Squalus went down, he was their only hope. He had invented a dive bell that could sink down to the hull of the sub and attach to the forward escape hatch. However, it had never been tried and no sub crew had ever been rescued from the bottom.
20 May 2001