Kelsey Grammer stars as Lt. Commander Thomas Dodge, a free-thinking yet undeniably capable officer whose first command in the U.S. nuclear submarine corps turns out to be a diesel-powered rust bucket that hasn't seen active duty since World War II. Concerned about the threat of newer submarines being sold off to unreliable Third World countries by a cash-strapped Soviet Union, the Navy develops a war game to determine if Dodge's leaky Stingray can somehow tiptoe past the nuclear defenses along the American East Coast. Dodge is given a grab bag of highly expendable greenhorns, malcontents and just plain idiots to pilot the old sub. Now Tom Dodge must not only contend with an ancient vessel and an impossible mission, he must make sailors out of a motley crew.