Carl Brashear leaves his native Kentucky and the life of a
sharecropper in 1949 by joining the
United States Navy. Carl promised his father that he would never quit and would fight for what he wants. As a crew member of the salvage ship
USS Hoist, where he is assigned to the galley, he is inspired by the bravery of
Master Chief Petty Officer Leslie William "Billy" Sunday, who free-dives to rescue a diver knocked overboard without an air line. Sunday develops an
air embolism that prevents him from diving without a fatal risk. Carl is determined to become the first Black American Navy diver, proclaiming that he will eventually qualify as a
master diver. He is allowed to attend Diving and Salvage School in
Bayonne, New Jersey, at which Master Chief Sunday is the head instructor. Sunday is under orders from the school's racist commanding officer Mr. Pappy to ensure that Carl fails. The other students, led by Dylan Rourke, refuse to bunk with Carl. Carl struggles to overcome his educational shortcomings, a result of leaving school in the seventh grade to work on his family's farm. He receives assistance from Jo, a female medical student who works part-time in the
New York Public Library. Carl proves to be a diver by rescuing a fellow student when the student's dive partner Rourke abandons him to die during a salvage exercise gone wrong. At Mr. Pappy's instruction, Rourke is awarded a medal, taking credit for Carl’s actions. After learning that his father has died, Carl encounters Sunday and the rest of the class at a bar. When Sunday asks Carl if he thinks that he is better than him, the two don diving gear that fills with water to see who can hold his breath longer. After four minutes, Sunday's nose starts to bleed and the students drain his suit, leaving Carl as the winner. For their final evaluation, each student must assemble a
flange underwater using a bag of tools. At Mr. Pappy's direction, Carl’s bag is cut open to impede his passing. Carl must take time to locate and gather his tools as the water temperature drops. Hours after the other students have finished, Carl completes the assembly and graduates from diving school. Sunday is soon demoted to senior chief by Mr. Pappy for allowing Carl to pass. The paths and careers of Carl and Sunday diverge. Sunday continually loses his composure around officers who disrespect his accomplishments until he is eventually demoted to
chief petty officer and relegated to menial duties. Carl marries Jo and rises quickly through the ranks, becoming a national hero in the
1966 Palomares incident for evading a Soviet submarine, recovering a missing hydrogen bomb and severing his left leg below the knee while saving the lives of Navy crewmen. Carl feels that his only chance to return to active duty and a relatively normal life is for the leg to be amputated and replaced with a prosthesis. Until this time, no Navy man had ever returned to full active duty with a prosthetic limb. Carl reunites with Sunday, who helps him train to fight the Navy's bureaucracy and the antagonistic Captain Hanks (Carl’s and Sunday's former
Hoist executive officer) to return to full active duty and fulfil his dream of becoming a master diver. After Carl passes his readiness evaluation, his reinstatement hearing is held before the Chief of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C. Hanks introduces the latest Navy technology, a 290-pound copper diving suit, and tells Carl that he must walk 12 steps to qualify for reinstatement. Carl stands and takes all 12 steps with stern encouragement from Sunday. On completion, Hanks declares that Carl is reinstated to full active duty. Carl becomes a master diver two years later, and was active for an additional nine years. ==Cast==