Best movies like The Cruel Sea

In the midst of World War II, the battle under the sea rages and the Nazis have the upper hand as the Allies are unable to crack their war codes. However, after a wrecked U-boat sends out an SOS signal, the Allies realise this is their chance to seize the 'enigma coding machine'.

Merchant seaman Archie Gibbs manages to survive when his ship is torpedoed by a German submarine. Disguising himself in the uniform of a dead Nazi spy, Gibbs is picked up by the Nazi U-boat. He manages to convince the German sailors that he's the spy, and in this guise he tries to rescue a group of captured Allied scientists.

A gripping tale of WWII naval warfare in the Baltics, starring John Mills as Lt. Freddie Taylor, a British submarine Captain. The crew of the Sea Tiger are summoned from leave on shore with their families, and sent on a secret mission to intercept the Nazi battleship Brandenburg. In the ensuing battle the British submarine is damaged by a German destroyer. The submarine is leaking fuel so badly that the crew won't be able to make it back to Britain before running out somewhere along the Danish coast. When it seems that their only option may be to blow up the submarine and try to escape to Denmark, seaman James Hobson hatches a plan...

A World War II drama-documentary showing the struggles of Merchant Navy seamen following an attack by a U-Boat. Western Approaches is a vast area of ocean control covering thousands of square miles of the Atlantic. In these waters is set this single incident in the fiercest and longest sea battle in history. The players are not professional actors but serving officers and men of Allied Navies and Merchant Fleets. This film is dedicated to them and their comrades who made the Allied victory possible.

In a vein similar to Bond movies, a British agent Philip Calvert is on a mission to determine the whereabouts of a ship that disappeared near the coast of Scotland.

A U.S. Navy crew aboard a merchant marine ship battle Nazis.

During WWII, Duke E. Gifford is second in command of the USS Thunderfish, a submarine which is firing off torpedoes that either explode too early or never explode at all. It's a dilemma that he'll eventually take up personally. Even more personal is his quest to win back his ex-wife, a nurse; but he'll have to win her back from a navy flier who also happens to be his commander's little brother.

A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a damaged sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.

During a routine patrol, a reporter is given permission to interview a hardened cold-war warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. The reporter gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to breaking point.

In the dark silence of the sea during World War II, the submarine USS Tiger Shark prowls on what should be a routine rescue mission. But for the shell-shocked crew, trapped together in the sub's narrow corridors and constricted spaces, this is about to become a journey into the sensory delusions, mental deceptions and runaway fears that lurk just below the surface of the ocean.

When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardize his ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.

A tale of life on board a Royal Navy cruiser assigned to protect the vital convoys between America and England during WWII.

The story of a Canadian WWII naval vessel, with a dramatic subplot concerning her first captain.

After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.

On the eve of their return to the states, the crew of the U.S.S. Blake is unpleasantly surprised when their new captain, Lt. Commander Hale, announces that they've been reassigned to the upcoming invasion of Okinawa. With the news turning the crew against him, Hale must rise to the occasion to keep his men inline.

The crew of a submarine is trapped on the sea floor when it sinks. How can they be rescued before they run out of air?

A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the “Black Pit” to the front lines of WW2. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.

A naval officer reprimanded after Pearl Harbor is later promoted to rear admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.

The story of the Battle of Midway, and the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome massive odds.

This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.

The crew of the American destroyer escort, the USS Haynes, detects a German U-Boat—resulting in a prolonged, deadly battle of wits.

A privately-financed scientist and his colleagues hire an ex-Navy officer to conduct an Alaskan submarine expedition in order to prevent a Red Chinese anti-American plot that may lead to World War III. Mixes deviously plotted schoolboy fiction with submarine spectacle and cold war heroics.

Maverick Navy lieutenant Tom Dodge will never be a textbook officer, but he's a brilliant seaman who's always wanted to command a nuclear submarine — he's been given one last chance to clean up his record. Unfortunately, Admiral Graham, his nemesis, would rather sink the fleet than give Dodge his own boat. So, Graham stacks the deck against him and assigns Dodge to the Stingray, a diesel-powered WW2 submarine that can barely keep afloat. To make matters worse, Dodge's crew is a collection of maladjusted, mistake-prone misfits. Then, he's tagged the "enemy" in a crucial war game, and ordered to take on the U.S. Navy's best.

An intrepid radio reporter sets out to track down and expose Nazi agents.

At the height of Hitler's infamous U-boat war, the crew of the U.S.S. Swordfish were heading home after months at sea. They never made it. Now prisoners of war aboard U-boat 429, a small group of American survivors will find their loyalties put to the ultimate test when they're forced to join their German captors to fight for their very lives.

The story of the HMS Torrin, from it's construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship's first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.

The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying every ship in a convoy while remaining beyond the range of all Royal Navy warships.

A tugboat captain serves under his rival as a U-boat chaser in World War I.

A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.

The harrowing true story of the crew of the USS Indianapolis, who were stranded in the Philippine Sea for five days after delivering the atomic weapons that would eventually end WWII. As they awaited rescue, they endured extreme thirst, hunger, and relentless shark attacks.

Early in the War of 1812, Captain James Marshall is commissioned to run the British blockade and fetch an unofficial war loan from France. As first mate, Marshall recruits Ben Waldridge, a cashiered former British Navy captain. Waldridge brings his former gun crew...who begin plotting mutiny as soon as they learn there'll be gold aboard. The gold duly arrives, and with it Waldridge's former sweetheart Leslie, who's fond of a bit of gold herself. Which side is Waldridge really on?

A submarine commander is on a relentless pursuit of a Japanese aircraft carrier in the South Seas during World War II.

American naval forces are using a port in Iceland as a base for anti-submarine patrols to protect North Atlantic convoys from Nazi subs. The Nazis send undercover agents into the port in a scheme to blow up the entrance to the harbor and keep the patrols blocked in. The officers in charge of the patrols have to find the spies and stop them before they achieve their objective.

A British coastal command pilot is charged with neglect when it is thought that he has sunk a British submarine rather than a German U-boat. Unable to live with his actions, he volunteers for a deadly mission. His girlfriend meanwhile tries to prove that he is innocent.

A US Navy submarine, the USS Corsair, is operating in the North Atlantic, hunting German merchant raiders that are preying on Allied shipping. Its new executive officer, Lt. Ward Stewart, has been transferred back into submarines after commanding his own PT boat. At the submarine base in New London, Connecticut, he asks his new captain, Lt. Cmdr. Dewey Connors, for a weekend leave to settle his affairs before taking up his new assignment. On a train bound for Washington D.C., Stewart accidentally encounters New London school teacher Jean Hewlett and her students. Despite her initial resistance to his efforts, he charms her and they fall in love.

Hornblower and the other officers of the Renown must return to Jamaica to face a court-martial and possible execution for their actions in relieving their unstable captain.

The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger.

During the last days of World War II, Germany, desperate for any last grasp to defeat the allied powers, looked to their last remaining weapons and soldiers. The German Navy and the last remaining U-Boats were formed together for one desperate last mission – a mission to attack the United States Homeland, known as Operation Seawolf. Captain Hans Kessler, a grizzled submarine commander from both World Wars, is called into service to make one mission a success and help turn the tide of the war.

In the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open to supply the British Isles, facing the great danger posed by the many German warships, such as the Admiral Graf Spee, which are scouring the ocean for cargo ships to sink.

At the height of WWII, the Atlantic Ocean becomes a deadly battleground as an American torpedo boat fights against the constant bombardment of German forces.

After losing a submarine and fifty crew in a battle with a German ship during WWII, a Royal Navy officer gets a second chance in a daring raid with midget subs.

Hornblower and his comrades come under the command of a revered but mentally unstable captain and are forced to mutiny in order to save their ship, the HMS Renown.

A former British Naval Officer now makes his living by smuggling goods around the Mediterranean. After being forced to dump his cargo after nearly being caught by the authorities in Malta, he is eager to recoup his losses. When a former colleague appears and tells a wild story about smuggling diamonds out of South West Africa, he sees his chance to make a lot of money....

A British convoy is trying to elude a group of German U-Boats.

For the first time in history, National Geographic Channel and a group of scientists search the ocean floor for a series of shipwrecks many Americans never heard about. Everyone knows that on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. But what most don't know is just days later, Hitler sent his own force to devastate the East Coast. On December 19, the German Naval War Staff sent three U-boats to American waters. It was an assault so deadly, it was covered up by the U.S. government.

In World War II, the greatest threat to the British navy is the German battleship Tirpitz. While anchored in a Norwegian fjord, it is impossible to attack by conventional means, so a plan is hatched for a special commando unit to attack it, using midget submarines to plant underwater explosives.

Submarine commander Ken White is forced to suddenly submerge, leaving his captain and another crew member to die outside the sub during WW II. Subsequent years of meaningless navy ground assignments and the animosity of a former sailor, leave White (now a captain) feeling guilty and empty. His life spirals downward and his wife is about to leave him. Suddenly, he is forced into a dangerous rescue situation at the start of the Koren War.... reassigned to the same submarine where all of his problems began.

Jack Hardy is the sole survivor of a mysterious submarine disaster in World War II. Now, in 1981, the ill-fated submarine Scorpion has resurfaced, miraculously intact. Naval Intelligence need Hardy's expertise to retrace the course and mission that led to her original disappearance. But what's waiting for them under the grey waters of the Baltic Sea turns out to be much worse than the Russian submarines they're expecting. Wherever Scorpion has been all this time, it's brought some very bad luck back with it...

During World War I, the British navy disguised some of its warships as civilian cargo ships, known as Q Ships, in order to fool the Germans. German U-boat commander Capt. Von Haag spots one of these ships, commanded by Adm. Sims, in the English Channel and begins tracking it, leading to a war of nerves between Von Haag and Sims.

Oscar winner William Wyler directed this 1944 "newsdrama," narrated by Lieut. Robert Taylor, USNR (Bataan), and photographed in zones of combat by the U.S. Navy. The film follows one of the many new aircraft carriers built since Pearl Harbor, known as THE FIGHTING LADY in honor of all American carriers, as it goes into action against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean in 1943. See the ship and its pilots undergo their baptism of fire, attacking the Japanese base on Marcus Island. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation.