Submarines are black, sinister things that slip quietly beneath the sea. Submariner's credo: 'anything that floats is a target'. That's the good news. Life on them is nasty, cramped, and claustrophobic ((mdash)) at sea in a sewer pipe. The big nukes are a different fish ((mdash)) some 25 000 (+) tonnes in size. Veritable underwater cruise liners ((mdash)) if we ignore on-board nuclear missiles and a nuclear reactor valiantly attempting to melt down (embarrassingly, under the eyes of the American Imperialists). Oh yes, forgot to mention: the story is pre-Gorbachev (1961), and our 'good guys' are the Russians and the baddies are ((mdash)) well, you know who. Heroic, popular Captain 'Boris' Neeson is replaced in command by party flunky, Captain First Class 'Vladimir' Ford (married to Comrade Admiral Ackland's daughter). The untested new boat is rushed to sea, to undertake an undersea missile launch in time for the Comrade Admiral's birthday, Comrade Kruschev's upcoming summit, or some other spurious reason. Things go awfully wrong. Based on a real event.