Battle of the Coral Sea

Down scope.

See any more of those Japanese fly-boys, Skipper?

No. But, we will.

They've got this Philippine Coast pretty well covered.

How are our passengers, Len?

Closer than kissin' cousins.

The Army isn't used to such tight quarters.

Beats Corregidor, eh?

Yeah. They aren't complaining.

It's just that a couple of the higher brass isn't used

to such close proximity to the enlisted man.

Mmm-hmm. I'm sure they don't mind the enlisted man.

Aye-aye, sir.

Up scope.

Len, take a look. Okay.

Must be off an American ship.

I hope there's another one around to pick them up.

There is. Where?

Here.

Down scope.

Prepare to surface. All right, sir.

Skipper. Those fly-boys might be back any minute.

We wouldn't stand a prayer against them.

Neither would the men in that raft.

Well, this is just plain suicide. We're gonna surface.

Relax, Len. You never know, there might be some nurses on that raft.

Enemy aircraft bearing 165, Position angle three, sir!

Clear the decks! Get those men below!

Dive! Dive!

That was a pretty close call.

Yeah, we've been having our share of them here lately.

It's not the first for you though, huh, Major?

Skipper, the General would like to know our exact time of arrival.

Yeah? Well, would you inform the General

that our timetable hasn't been too exact here lately,

but, our estimated time of arrival is about two-and-a-half days.

Lieutenant, it just seems to me

that if the Navy would've wanted a periscope camera,

why, they would have invented one long ago.

Well, Franklin, you didn't enjoy the distinction

of serving in the peacetime Navy, like I did.

In those days, the Navy had all the time in the world, but no money.

Now, they've got all the money, but no time.

Say that again.

With this baby, you can scour airstrips, shipping... Anything.

And prove that you saw it all.

Problem, Bates?

Well, no, sir. Uh, I mean, yes, sir.

I mean, it can wait, sir.

It must be something terribly important. What is it?

Oh, well... No, I'd rather not now, sir. You're busy...

Bates, what's your problem?

Well, sir, somebody hid my bubble gum!

What again?

My whole supply. And I got a sneakin' hunch who it is.

Halliday, can you clear up this big mystery?

Yes, sir. I hid it.

Why doesn't he buy his own bubble gum?

Maybe you can explain this?

Begging your pardon, sir, maybe Bates can explain this?

I tell you, this sub'll never sink.

It's lined with Bates' bubble gum.

Those charts are ready on the bridge, Lieutenant.

Okay, thanks.

Halliday, you and Frank come with me.

Bates, keep an eye on that camera.

Aye, sir. I'll watch it like a hawk.

Halliday will see you get your bubble gum back.

If your mother knew the trouble this caused, she'd never send it to you.

I think I'll send her a letter.

"Dear Mrs. Bates, will you kindly stop sending your son that bubble gum?"

It's just a bunch of...

Wow, I think I've died and gone to heaven.

Is something wrong? Come here.

Give me a buck. A dollar? What for?

If you don't like what you see, you get your money back.

Whoa!

Come in.

Sit down, Conway.

I read your report.

You saved three men from almost certain drowning.

My compliments.

Thank you, sir.

And in doing so, you risked your entire crew,

a top Army General, and a United States submarine!

I thought I had a fair chance to save those men, sir.

Conway, under the circumstances,

any skipper in the Submarine Service

would have done the same thing.

But when you're charged with the responsibility

of carrying a Four-Star General on a top priority mission,

you've got to play it by the book.

This is a war we're having, not fleet maneuvers off San Diego!

A fair chance isn't good enough.

I understand, sir.

I hope you do, because I'm sending you on a mission

where there isn't any leeway for mistakes.

Does that worry you?

Yes, sir. Good.

These flags show the known enemy bases, and naval installations.

There are a great many others we don't know about.

Look how they're patterned, like a bow, with the arrow going straight through here.

Oh, the Coral Sea, huh?

Intelligence is positive.

Through the Coral Sea, to New Guinea and Australia.

And we're badly outnumbered, but we're going to put a task force

in front of them somehow.

Oh, if you're thinking that you and the Dragonfish

are going to join this task force right away, you're wrong.

I've got a more important job for you to do first.

More important than, uh...

Yes. A scouting mission to locate the Japanese fleet.

We've got to have more data on their strength and their positions.

Especially the carriers.

We'll be operating the radio silence, Admiral. Right?

Yes. Any radio transmission between the task force and the Dragonfish

will alert the Japanese.

When you accumulate your data,

you will rendezvous with our ships,

give them the information by blinker.

You leave here at 0400 tomorrow.

Your recognition signal and the rendezvous point are in these sealed orders.

Open them on the eighth day, proceed accordingly.

Now remember this.

If you have trouble, any trouble,

your responsibility is to those orders.

The Japanese must not know our rendezvous point.

If you have to scuttle yourself and sacrifice every man on board to prevent it,

you'll do it.

That's all.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Oh, Admiral, um, my Executive Officer's been

working on a periscope camera.

He has confidence in it, and he'd like your permission to use it.

Certainly. If it works, it could be very valuable on this mission.

Keep the line moving! Two bucks to see the thrill of your life.

Shorty said it only cost him a dollar.

What's the matter? Didn't you ever hear of the law of supply and demand?

Ah! Oh!

Okay, Mac, that's all. Next!

Come on, let's hurry up. We got to go. Come on.

Come on, we've got a whole crew behind us. Let's go.

Come on, let's go! Come on.

Bates! Yes, sir.

Mind if I have a look through my camera?

Oh, no, no, sir.

No charge, sir. I mean, uh...

Here's my contribution to the Recreation and Welfare Fund.

Len, take a look.

Do you stand behind that camera of yours?

It'll work, Captain. Go ahead.

That should do it, Captain. Good.

Put this through the scope and see what happens.

Come on.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

What about that, Franklin?

I think Uncle Petrie would be proud of you, sir.

Come on.

Carl who made this coffee anyhow?

I don't know, but it tastes like battery acid to me.

Here you go!

Oh, beautiful, Len! Beautiful, beautiful!

You know how important this is, don't you, Len?

Sure. Now we can give the Admiral a picture

of every Japanese coastal installation from here to the rendezvous point.

Fancy Free.

Fancy Free.

Len? Yeah?

Give me the carrier identification book.

Okay.

It's nice. What type?

Shoho, I think.

Here, take a look.

Yeah, here we are. Shoho Class, 30,000 tons.

Holy, sweet suffering sukiyaki.

You can say that again.

Holy, sweet suffering sukiyaki.

Put down the scope.

You know what you were looking at, don't you?

The whole carrier division of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Probably the Pearl Harbor boys. Hmm.

Shall we call battle stations?

No. The only thing we're going to shoot this trip is that camera of yours.

Well, I'll go get it.

No, we're not going in yet.

How come we don't have to, Skipper?

I can get that whole rogues' gallery right from here.

No. The only thing I want you to do now is plot the positions

of those channel buoys.

Afterwards, we'll go out, surface, charge our batteries,

come back for a closer look in the morning.

But, Skipper, there might be controlled mine fields in there.

Right. Yeah. And if we go down below periscope depth,

well, those currents might send us into one of those mine fields.

That's a chance we have to take.

What's the matter, Len, didn't you ever hear of a close-up?

Captain? Captain? Hmm?

It's 0400, sir.

Thanks, Chief. Tell the Conning Officer I'll be right up.