Down Periscope is a 1996 American military comedy submarine film directed by David S. Ward, produced by Robert Lawrence, and starring Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, and Rob Schneider along with Bruce Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, William H. Macy, and Rip Torn in supporting roles. Released by 20th Century Fox on March 1, 1996, the film focuses on Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge (played by Grammer), a capable, if somewhat unorthodox, U.S. Navy officer who fights to save his career after being saddled with a group of misfit seamen who have been brought together as the crew of his first command, USS Stingray, a rusty, obsolete World War II-era diesel submarine that is the focus of a special naval war game, supervised by a bitter rival (played by Dern) who is fighting to bury Dodge's career by any means necessary.

Plot

Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge, currently the executive officer of the attack submarine USS Orlando under its commanding officer Commander Carl Knox, is being considered for a third time to captain a submarine. Although an excellent leader, he has been previously passed over because of his unorthodox command methods that included a "brushing" incident against a Russian missile submarine three years earlier near the port of Murmansk, Russia, and a penile tattoo reading "Welcome Aboard" that he acquired as an ensign while intoxicated. If denied again, he will be dismissed from the Navy's submarine command program.