Original title
The Silent Service
Released
4/5/1957
Origin country
US
Genre
Drama
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
2
Number of episodes
78
The Silent Service was a 1957–1958 syndicated anthology television series based on actual events in the submarine section of the United States Navy. The Silent Service was narrated by Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykers, who retired from the Navy in 1949 after twenty-two years of service. He began each episode with this refrain: "Tonight, we bring you another thrilling episode of Silent Service stories, of warfare under the sea." Many of the episodes focused on the history of specific submarines, including: ⁕USS Sculpin ⁕USS Nautilus, the first atomic submarine ⁕USS Perch ⁕USS Tang ⁕USS S-38 ⁕USS Tirante ⁕USS Bergall ⁕USS Spearfish ⁕USS Triton ⁕USS Wahoo, and ⁕USS Gato, subject of the series finale. Actors appearing on The Silent Service included Russell Johnson, cast three times in the role of the character "Beach". DeForest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy appeared in two episodes each as Lieutenant Commander James Dempsey and as Sonarman, respectively. Jerry Paris and Liam Sullivan each guest starred twice. Eric Morris appeared in nineteen episodes identified only as "Soldier". Other guest stars included Joe Conley, Mike Connors, Lawrence Dobkin, Ron Hagerthy, Adam Kennedy, Robert Knapp, Paul Richards, Bing Russell, Craig Stevens, Dennis Weaver and Stuart Whitman.
Documentary dramatic anthology about the US Navy's submarine fleet. All stories were based on fact and the realism was heightened by actual use of combat footage from the files of the Navy.
A submarine springs a leak while well into Japanese waters. An engineer takes on the dangerous mission of repairing it.
A docudrama about a mission during World War II by the submarine USS Trout involving transporting a large amount of gold and silver.
The USS Thresher is caught at the end of a Japanese destroyer's grappling hook and attempts to shake itself loose.
After a damaged submarine is forced to surface, all hands are ordered by the captain to abandon ship, but he stays aboard.
A submarine is ordered to slip into Japanese-occupied Filipino waters to spirit out some important passengers from Corregidor.
The USS Bergall, which has been badly damaged, is trying to get to port but three Japanese patrol boats are making it difficult.
The USS Batfish is ordered to intercept some enemy submarines that are carrying very important Japanese officials.
A submarine trying to rescue downed American pilots comes under attack from Japanese destroyers.
On the hunt for a Japanese convoy, the crew of the USS Gato discovers that an unexploded enemy depth charge has landed on its deck.
U.S. subs are about to close in on a Japanese convoy. What they don't know is that aboard one of the ships are Allied POWs.
The commander of the submarine USS Tirante may lose his target in the shallow waters of a Japanese-held harbor if he doesn't surface.
With morale low, USS Tang stands by for rescue downed American pilots during the attack on the Truk islands.
The final mission of the USS Wahoo.
Darter and Dace during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
A submarine suffers a series of disasters: a broken prop, damaged instruments and an explosion onboard.
The USS Seahorse is in big trouble: it's deep in Japanese waters, it's been badly damaged and is in danger of being destroyed by a barrage of enemy depth charges.
In October of 1944. 100 miles off Japan. Salmon is damaged in a depth charge attack and must remain surfaced.
The crew of the USS Crevalle takes aboard a Filipino woman about to give birth to a baby.
A sub being hunted by Japanese ships is forced to settle on the bottom of the ocean to escape detection, but it has been badly damaged and if it stays on the bottom for too long it may not be able to surface.
The Squailfish sinks a Japanese escort carrier, but that only seems to be what sets off a string of bad luck that begins to plague the sub.
Prior to the invasion, the USS Grouper transports Australian raiders and their native guides to a hidden cove on New Britain.
When his ship's attempts to sink Japanese shipping fail, a seaman with an interest in photography produces evidence of faulty design.
The USS Sea Dragon's oxygen tanks are exhausted. Death by suffocation or enemy gun fire seems inevitable.
A docudrama about a submarine mission during World War II, the rescue by the USS Narwhal of escaped POW survivors of Bataan from the island of Mindanao.
A docudrama about the submarine USS Perch on a mission during The Korean War to deliver British Royal Marines on a secret commando raid.
Concerns the Gato Class WWII Sub U.S.S. Barb (SS-220) and her Final WWII Patrol.
A broken propeller, an internal explosion and damaged instruments plague an outmoded American submarine assigned to attack Jap transports.
A docudrama about the submarine USS Gar on a secret mission with guerillas during World War II.
The successes and the sinking of the USS Flyer and the dozen who survived after 17 hours in the water and then had to sail to additional islands before finding food and rescue.
Enemy bombers attack the U.S.S. Starfish, and a hatch cover sticks as it attempts to submerge.
A damaged sub surfaces to attack a fleet of Japanese destroyers.
The Nautilus is assigned to observation duty at Tarawa and caught between U.S. and Japanese fire.
The Captain of the USS Harder earns the Congressional Medal of Honor by aggressive tactics which sink a record number of enemy destroyers over a few days. As a result, Japanese planning for a major operation is upset leading to American victory.
A photographer's mate is frightened by his assignment - to photograph submarines in action. The crew helps to make things unpleasant.
At the urging of Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, civilian scientists developed an electronic device that enabled submarines to detect floating and submerged mines. With this apparatus, a wolf-pack of nine subs entered the Sea of Japan in June 1945 and wreaked havoc with enemy shipping, contributing materially to the end of the war.
A U.S. sub becomes a sitting duck to save Australian soldiers from Timor Island.
The USS Tang, after sinking an entire convoy, gets in the way of her own torpedo.
The perch starts wwii two engines down and doesn't keep them repaired long. During the opening of the war it suffers a series of mishaps (a circular running torpedo detonates close, loss of the comm gear, hole at the base of the sail, cracked and bowed shafts with only one engine providing propulsion. Scopes out, depth gauge out, numerous electrical grounds take sonar out, interior communications out-can't call for help., "Can't fight, can't run, - can't even dive. "
Action centers around the historic and very successful First War Patrol for the USS Guardfish. There is a side story that the Guardfish got so close to Tokyo Bay that her crew were able to watch a horse race, through the periscope.
Submarine Commander questions his own judgment and beaches himself in administrative duty. He returns to sea and commands another sub to sink one of the biggest warship prizes of the war.
US Submarine vs US ASW group consisting of Destroyers and aircraft in a Cold War era war game. Who will win the competition?
Follows the beginning of the Bergall's third war patrol to Lombok strait. The highlight of the patrol is to use the new "cutie" torpedo to eliminate escorts that threaten US subs passing through the straits.
S boats were early and older US subs. S34 was sent into Kiska, Alaska after Japan invaded. She barely survived. Nothing sunk, but she survived.
US subs provided lifeguard duty. Saving downed allied pilots. The USS Aspro did that just outside Tokyo, Japan in Aug. 1945 at great risk to all aboard.
Torpedo test goes wrong and fired with the outer door still closed. It has to be disarmed or boom. Thresher adds a 5" gun for surface action in 42. US Torpedoes were bad at that time. The 5" gun saved the Thresher in a duel with a Jap ship.
This episode starts with the New CO borrowing uniforms from one of his officers in San Fran. The Story ends with that JO resigning to be a priest. Plenty of soul saving in between late in the war.
During the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies the S-38 attempts to rescue survivors from a British destroyer. She rescued 58 Royal sailors from the HMS Electra which had been sunk the day before.
In early 1942, the USS Tarpon is in bad shape. Then bad turns to worse when she is grounded on an uncharted reef. Can the ship float free in time to avoid the nearby Japanese?
When the Navy learns that Japanese freighters are hugging the coast of Japan in order to evade US submarines, the Trigger is sent to the area to lay mines to force Japanese shipping out into deeper waters. USS Trigger (SS-237) a Gato-class submarine. From 3 Dec 1942 to 22 Jan 1943, the submarine conducted a combined minelaying and offensive patrol, in waters surrounding Japan. On 20 December, she began planting a minefield off Inubo Saki, Honshū. Trigger planted the northern half of the field and was working on the southern part when a cargo ship passed her, heading into the newly-laid mines. Five minutes later, a violent explosion rocked the captain of the Trigger gets to see the freighter while an escort circled her. The submarine later heard another explosion from the direction of the minefield and, when she surfaced the next day, found the field was covered by smoke.
The USS Baya operates in cooperation with Navy patrol planes in the South China Sea.
The USS Cod boarding party was stranded for 52 hours on a Japanese junk before they could be rescued.
The Triton wardroom and torpedomen ensure a good Christmas is had by all.
The skipper of the USS Hawkbill vows revenge when a Japanese minelayer sinks the USS Lagarto.
Tigershark sights an enemy task force. The skipper has to make a decision: Follow orders and leave the area or surface and radio headquarters. His decision leads to one of his sailors being recommended for the Navy Cross.
On her first war patrol in June of 1944, the USS Cavala's captain obeys orders despite a tempting target. His disciplined conduct sets up the great American victory of "The Marianas Turkey Shoot."
A submarine captain sacrifices himself for the safety of his ship and crew.
This was Operation Barney where 9 US Subs entered the Sea of Japan in June 45. They were the "Hellcats" squadron. They wreaked havoc on Japanese ships with the loss of only 1 sub.
A Lucky hat and a whale of a tale that contribute to an evasion.
A renovated 18-year-old sub is sent to sink a Japanese cruiser.
On her seventh war patrol, the USS Pargo gets an assignment to land Australian commandos on one of the Paracel Islands.
Laying mines off the Japanese-held harbor of Saigon was a tough job at best; but, with one of your own mines stuck in the torpedo tube and an enemy destroyer closing fast, it was a downright nightmare.
The U.S.S. Sunfish endures 186 depth charges released by Japanese surface craft.
Fed up with his routine chores in the gallery, the cook of the USS Sunfish, Teddy Aldridge, requests an active combat station for the next engagement with the enemy. The ship's executive officer assigns him a Browning automatic rifle for use during surface action.
Fourteen nuns escape from the Solomon Islands in the U.S.S. Nautilus.
American submarine is sent to rescue missionaries from Japanese held island, but one does not want to leave.
Appendectomy. No doctor. No surgical supplies. But American Submariners get the job done -- even as depth charges explode nearby.
Extensive effort to rescue a downed pilot off enemy held island beach from a reef. Early success versus an enemy destroyer. CDR Samuel D Dealey commanding.
USS Tautog was at Pearl Dec. 7th, 1941. She sank 26 Jap ships equating to 72,606 tons by the end of the war. She had one of the best records in WWII.
USS Swordfish travels to the Lembeh Straits on Celebes to discover how an Imperial Japanese air base is being supplied.
Submarine risks Japanese shore batteries to rescue downed airman less than a mile off coast of Japan. Then USN destroyers mistake submarine for Japanese ship. Galivan evades multiple attacks by "friendly" destroyers.
The captain of the USS Gato plays a hunch (or is it something more than a mere "hunch"?) to rescue downed American airmen.
An egocentric young torpedoman matures as he his shaped by the harsh realities of submarine combat.
Today's theme is the Bowfin Story.
A British sub commander in the Mediterranean intercepts enemy supply boats.
USS Squalus sinks off of New Hampshire in 1939. New rescue equipment is used to rescue half of the crew.
American submarine skillfully tracks and engages a German U-Boat that is headed for Japan.
On 14 October 1939, Gunther Prien penetrated the Royal Navy's primary base at Scapa Flow where he torpedoed and sank the battleship Royal Oak and returned home to instant fame.
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