Kelsey Grammer stars as Lt. Commander Thomas Dodge, a free-thinking yet undeniably capable officer whose first command in the U.S. nuclear submarine corpse turns out to be a World War II-era diesel-powered rust bucket that hasn't seen active duty since Benny Goodman topped the song charts. Concerned about the threat of quiet diesel-powered submarines now 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 greenhorns, malcontents and just plain idiots to pilot the old sub. Now Tom Dodge must not only contend with an ancient vessel, he must make sailors out of a motley crew.