Morning Departure

John Mills - Commander Armstrong
Helen Cherry - Helen Armstong
Richard Attenborough - Stoker Snipe
Lana Morris - Rose Snipe
Nigel Patrick - Lieutenant Manson
Andrew Crawford - Sub Lieutenant J. McFee
Michael Brennan - C.P.O. Barlow
James Hayter - Able Seaman Higgins
Wylie Watson - Able Seaman Nobby Clark
Roddy McMillan - Leading Seaman Andrews
Peter Hammond - Sub Lieutenant Oakley
Victor Maddern - Leading Telegraphist Hillbrook
George Cole - E.R.A. Marks
Bernard Lee - Commander Gates
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart - Leading Seaman Kelly
George Thorpe - Captain Fenton
Kenneth More - Lieutenant Commander James

Taken from a play by Kenneth Wooland, Morning Departure is an atmospheric, stiff upper-lip drama in the best tradition. The story turned out to be prophetic; in 1950 a Swedish tanker sank the British submarine Truculent on the Thames estuary, with only 15 survivors from an 80-man crew.

During a routine post-war mission, a submarine hits a forgotten electric mine, which explodes, sending the sub to the sea-bed and killing all but 12 of her crew. The captain of the Trojan, Armstrong (John Mills) gets eight out through the conning tower and gun hatch - but no more escape sets are left. Weak-willed Stoker Snipe (Richard Attenborough) becomes hysterical; Armstrong has to knock him out. After seven days of intense examination of the crew’s character under stress, a salvage ship attempts to lift the sub in a heavy storm, but a cable snaps, plunging the sub back to the bottom. Armstrong reads the two remaining men the Naval Prayer.