Crimson Tide Essay, Research Paper
When Russia rebels gain control of nuclear weapons in the USSR, the United States retaliates by deploying the USS Alabama, a nuclear submarine. Which is commanded by Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman), a veteran solider and Naval Great. Ramsey selects Lt. Commander Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington), to be his right man on this mission; Hunter is a Harvard graduate and prefers to use his brains to weapons unlike his Commanding officer. The USS Alabama?s mission was simple, it was to basically go into Russian waters and sit as America?s first line of defense in case of a WW3. The president of the United States set the strategic goal for this operation, which was to set ship in Russian waters and monitor activity. The tactical goal for this operation was for Captain Ramsey and Lt. Hunter to follow out the strategic goal sent by the president. The last goal, which is the operational goal, is for the crew of the USS Alabama to follow instructions from their Captains and keep everything safe. Planning also played an important part of this movie. Strategic planning was used when the crew was first sent down for their mission. They were told that they were the first lines of defense and if they were shot at then they shoot back. Both Ramsey and Hunter used tactical planning, an example of this would be when the radio broke down and they had to plan with out one. A perfect example for an operational plan was given by the Captain to get the radio fixed. There were many cases of decision-making processes in this movie. When the ship radio went down they received a message that wasn?t clear about launching the nuclear weapon or not launching it. At this point both men had to make decision and quick, Captain Ramsey believed that the interrupted transmission was to fire the weapon, which was a decision of uncertainty and of high risk. Because if Ramsey was wrong, then he would start WW3. However, Lt. Hunter uses the decision of certainty, and tries to convince Ramsey not to launch the weapon and wait for the response of the interrupted message.