Heights and Depths

On May 23, 1939, the USS Squalus, the newest model of submarine for that time, was on a routine trial excursion off the coast of Portsmouth, N.H., when, 10 minutes into a dive, the intake valve failed and the vessel sank 240 feet, flooding the aft compartment and killing the 26 men trapped there.

But the sub’s remaining 33 Navy personnel and one technical civilian were rescued the following day in an experimental chamber that was being used for the first time.

The story of the only successful submarine rescue in history is the subject of a new NBC movie, “Submerged,” airing Sunday. Based on Peter Maas’ book “The Terrible Hours,” the drama stars Sam Neill (“Jurassic Park,” “The Piano”) as Cmdr. Charles B. “Swede” Momsen, the officer who rescued the surviving members of the Squalus.

Momsen, a Jules Verne-type visionary, developed, among other devices, a submarine escape breathing apparatus called “the Momsen lung.” For this daring rescue, he used a dive bell he had invented that could be lowered to the hull of a sub and attached to the escape hatch.

Shea Whigham (“Tigerland”) plays Capt. Oliver Naquin, the Squalus’ quiet, compassionate commander, and Emily Procter (“The West Wing”) is his rock-solid wife, Frances.

Neill hadn’t heard of the Squalus rescue until the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk last August. “That was such an appalling and riveting story,” the actor says. “We were all kind of compulsively awaiting whatever was coming out (about the Kursk). I remember most articles about what was happening had a box about the 1939 event. That was really when I heard of the ‘Swede.’ ”

James Keach directed the production, which was filmed at the Cinecitta Studios in Rome and the Mediterranean Film Studios in Malta. He believes that Momsen and the men of the Squalus were heroes.

“A hero to me is a guy who is an ordinary person not asking for anything in return other than to be of service to other people,” says the director. “That is what all of these guys represented to me. Swede wasn’t trying to prove anything to the world. He wanted to protect guys like himself from these horrible things that happened to submariners.”

In fact, the life span of a submariner was pretty grim. “Prior to this incident, 700 men had died in submarines from the United States,” Keach says. “In World War II, 40,000 men -- Americans and Germans -- perished. To me, this is a great human story. There are no guns. There is no violence. It is man against nature and man against his own creation.”

Neill read Maas’ book and numerous articles about Momsen before production began. “The more you read about him,” he says, “you discover what an extraordinary man and completely American hero he was. I would very much like to have met him. He was a very personable man, much loved by those in submarine service.”

It was the human interest aspect of the story that drew Whigham to the project. “It’s not us fighting the Russians,” says the actor. “It’s just (men) down there dealing with the emotions of a situation that is unknown to them.”

Naquin had a lot of layers for Whigham to explore as an actor. “He’s not the hard-core, stereotypical military man that you usually play. He’s an ordinary man caught in an extraordinary circumstance and he has to hold (his men) together. He cared about his men above the boat. A lot of the time when you see these captains, their boat is of No. 1 importance to them.”

A German submarine was converted to an American sub for the interior shots. For the flooding sequences, the production built a 30-foot pit, into which the sub’s aft section was lowered. “We blocked the whole top of it and we actually flooded those compartments and put the actors in there,” Keach said.

Instead of going back to their trailers between scenes, the director insisted that the men stay in the wet, cold submarine. “I told them, ‘I want you to feel what it’s like to be stuck in there,’ ” Keach says.

As for the real Squalus, it eventually was salvaged, repaired and returned to sea duty as the USS Sailfish -- where it was credited with sinking seven enemy ships during World War II. Two veterans of the Squalus were among the crew of the Sailfish.

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“Submerged” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on NBC. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).