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You don't wear your working uniforms underway. You all have coveralls on, both officers and enlisted. See more...

In the beginning of the movie, where it shows a rather scenic footage of the sub about to dive, the exact shot was also used in G.I. Jane. Note that Crimson Tide was directed by Tony Scott and GI Jane by brother Ridley. A bit of sibling teamwork? See more...

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Movie Mistakes blog

Crimson Tide (1995) - 3 questions

Directed by Tony Scott, starring Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Viggo Mortensen (add more)

Genres: Action, Drama, Thriller

The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!

Questions

Question: The disagreement between Hunter and Ramsey centers on the interpretation of the message that got cut off - Hunter says it might be a recall order so it has to be verified before they launch missiles; Ramsey says it is meaningless because it got cut off, so they should proceed with their original orders. I do understand that the captain was working within a scary time limit (one hour till the Russians could fire their missiles), but I don't understand how anyone could justify not spending part of that hour trying to confirm the cut-off message. Naval command would hardly have radioed them again to say "Yes, we really want you to fire your missiles, we're just telling you again for emphasis," so that means it was not just possible but extremely likely that the cut-off message was a recall order. Given that, how could anyone in their right mind want to cause a nuclear holocaust without first trying to find out what the cut-off message really said?

Answer: In a war situation, the Captain is absolutely NOT allowed to try and contact anyone, lest it gives their position away, which is why he was unable to question or confirm the order.

Edit Answered by GalahadFairlight

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Question: I know that this film was set in the 1990s but even then, was smoking permitted on US submarines? It would seem a bit odd given that the crew are relying on recycled oxygen.

Answer: In the most technical sense ("by the book") it is against policy. But then, the Marines do not allow tattoos and look how well that's enforced. It is up to the ship's Captain to enforce such regulations, and at sea, there's no one to penalize him if he chooses to let the crew smoke at certain times, given certain conditions.

Edit Answered by John W Rosa

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Question: If the radio antenna was cut, how in the world did they get communication? It seems they were working on the radio on the sub, what good would that do if there was no antennae?

Answer: The ship has a second antenna, but the radio is damaged during the torpedo attack. Therefore they have to fix it in order to use the backup antenna.

Edit

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