Sea Devil (SS-400) During the Korean War, the submarine, USS Sea Devil, tested our West Coast defenses by attempting an "attack" on Seattle. A division of destroyers prepared to "sink" the Sea Devil as it had every other sub in previous exercises. But they had not reckoned on the ingenuity of the sub's skipper. Bill Ruhe had a distinguished war record and was one of the most experienced submarine commanders in the Navy. By a masterpiece of strategy, he capitalized on an undiscovered weakness in the supposed airtight defenses.

Bergall (SS-320) American submarines had the job of ridding Lombok Strait of annoying Japanese patrol craft. With a homing-type torpedo that was effective against shallow draught boats, the USS Bergall was able to mete out punishment to the enemy patrols. But the new torpedo posed some problems for the submarine's skipper; it homed on noise and wasn't particular about whose noise it was. There was always the chance that the torpedo would make for the submarine instead of the enemy.

S-34 (SS-139) Hoping to harass enemy shipping in the newly-conquered Aleutians in June 1942, the S-34 entered the area but ran aground during her first attack. Discovered by an enemy destroyer, the S-34 jettisoned all reserve fuel, floated off the reef, then dived to avoid ramming by the destroyer. On the bottom, she was subjected to a harrowing depth charge attack that forced her to exceed her test depth and experienced an encounter with a giant octopus. Eight days later, she limped back to Dutch Harbor. Every ballast tank was punctured, her screws and rudder were bent on the reef, and depth charge fragments had to be pried from the conning tower fairing.

Peto (SS-265) For her tenth war patrol, the USS Peto was assigned to recover American airmen shot down during the closing phases of the war against Japan. One member of the submarine's crew, John Francis Laboon, Jr., changed the direction of his life as a result of the assignment. During the patrol, Laboon dove off the submarine to rescue a drowning flier. The experience left him with the decision to resign from the Navy following the war and enter the priesthood. Today, he is the Rev. Father John Laboon of the Society of Jesus. He appears at the close of this episode to discuss some of his experiences aboard the USS Peto.

S-38 (SS-143) Submarines don't usually serve as hospital ships but during the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, the S-38 picked up survivors of the British destroyer Electra and transported them to safety. The rescue of the injured and dying, who were then crowded into the S-38's cramped quarters, and the narrow escapes from patrolling Japanese destroyers are dramatically presented in this episode.

Trigger (SS-237) For her third war patrol, the USS Trigger had an unusual assignment: mine the coastal waters of Japan to drive enemy shipping into deep water. No one was happy with the assignment. For Ensign Thomas, mine-laying was a lowly chore. When the patrol takes an unusual turn, Thomas and the Trigger's crew find that even mine laying pays off.

Triton (SS-201) In a change of pace from action-packed episodes, this episode presents a sentimental Christmas story that unfolds inside the slim, steel hull of USS Triton, 200 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific. The USS Triton's log for Dec. 25, 1942 reads: "0900, dived to 200 feet and held appropriate Christmas ceremonies." These included Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, a tree, passing out of Christmas gifts, and a Santa Claus. In the holiday spirit, one man learns that war sometimes unites families as well as divides them. The skipper of the Triton, Lt. Cdr. C. C. Kirkpatrick, is now a Rear Admiral and was Chief of Naval Information.

Tigershark (Fictitious Submarine) For reasons that become obvious, the names of the submarine and its crew members have been changed for this episode of the "Silent Service". The story is one of personal heroism by a Chief Petty Officer who, when his submarine is badly damaged on the ocean floor, braves death by asphyxiation to get the engines running again.

Grayling (SS-209) A US submarine was saved by a whale in October 1943. The USS Grayling was assigned to patrol duty off Corregidor. She found plenty of targets but plenty of opposition, too. When only two torpedoes remained in her tubes, she searched hopefully for a final objective. The one she picked turned out to be an enemy Q-ship, which escaped the torpedoes and proceeded to unload some well-placed depth charges. When a friendly whale ventured near the Grayling, the Japanese detection devices mistook it for the submarine and followed it while the Grayling escaped.

Sandshark (Fictitious submarine) Rescuing a missionary and his wife from a Japanese-held island turns out to be more of a chore than the submariners figured. When the missionary balks at being taken off the island, one member of the rescue party takes matters into his own hands and settles the issue with a well-aimed left hook. Later, aboard the submarine, he tells the missionary that an enemy mortar blast had knocked him unconscious. Submarine and crew members are not identified but the incident happened exactly as depicted.

Harder (SS-257) In the most daring submarine rescue of the war, three men from USS Harder swam with a rubber boat through knife-like coral and a hail of snipers' bullets to save a Navy pilot from an enemy-held island. The sub's skipper, posthumous Medal of Honor winner Samuel D. Dealey, put the USS Harder's bow on a coral reef and fought to keep her from swinging broadside onto the reef while the crew hauled in the rubber boat. The flyer, Lt. John Galvin from the carrier USS Bunker Hill, was awarded the Submarine Combat Insignia for his service aboard the USS Harder during the remainder of this patrol in which she began the rampage that won her the name "Destroyer Killer".

Gabilan (SS-252) Although warned away from an area to be patrolled by American destroyers, the U.S. submarine Gabilan risked attack by units of its own fleet to rescue a downed flier. Officers and men of the USS Gabilan went through some of the most agonizing hours ever passed in the undersea service. The USS Gabilan was nearly clear of the danger area when she was spotted by two American destroyers. Heavy fog prevented her identification signals from being recognized. With hardly any energy left in her batteries, she was forced to submerge to avoid shellfire. Then, with her electric power nearly gone and a strong current pushing her shoreward, she surfaced, only to find the destroyers still doggedly on her trail. She was saved when a clearing in the fog enabled her recognition signals to get through.

Gato (SS-212) Rescuing downed fliers from the Sea of Japan was one of the less-publicized, though frequently valiant, chores of U.S. submarines during World War II. The USS Gato braves repeated air attack to recover airmen from the sea. In the process, one of her crew members learns his true mission in the war.

Squalus (SS-192) When the USS Squalus sank in 240 feet of water in May 1939, the Navy had its first opportunity to test the rescue diving bell under actual emergency circumstances. The crew was trapped inside the stricken submarine at a depth that would have endangered their lives had they tried to escape by using Momsen lungs. The tragic sinking of the Squalus is seen, along with the valiant efforts that saved 33 men. At the end of the program, Vice Admiral Charles B. Momsen, inventor of the Momsen Lung and the supervisor of the Squalus rescue operation, is interviewed.

U-47 (German Submarine) Early in World War II, the British Navy was dealt a humiliating blow by an intrepid and resourceful German U-boat commander who slipped into the anchorage at Scapa Flow and sank the battleship Royal Oak on October 13, 1939. Through the narrow Kirk Sound, in which the British had sunk block-ships as an anti-submarine measure, Gunther Prien, skipper of the U-47, steered his craft fully surfaced. Once inside Scapa Flow, he sent a salvo of torpedoes into the Royal Oak, sinking her within sight of British shore batteries. Undetected, the U-47 slipped back to sea, completing one of the most daring submarine patrols in sea warfare.

Seanettle (Fictitious Submarine) In the summer of 1944, the USS Seanettle (name changed) received an unusual assignment from COMSUBPAC: find and sink a German submarine known to be traversing the Pacific en route to Japan. The skipper plotted a course that he felt would intersect with the refueling needs of the German sub. The USS Seanettle caught up with the German sub off the Hong Kong harbor and was able to sink the German sub with her last three torpedoes.

Tinosa (Submarine, SS-283) Penetrating Tsushima Strait to get at shipping in the Sea of Japan was a job that fell to a few specially equipped submarines in the closing months of World War II. The USS Tinosa was sent into the Emperor's "private lake", the Tsushima Strait. The Strait was guarded by thick mine fields. However, with the help of "frequency modulated sonar," the Tinosa finally slipped by without damage and reaped her harvest, convoys of unprotected enemy ships.