Silent Service, The

1 9 5 7 – 1 9 5 8 (USA)
79 x 30 minute episodes

All the stories in this dramatic anthology series about the US Navy’s submarine fleet were based on fact, with the realism heightened by actual combat footage supplied by the US Naval Photographic Center (including captured films of all theatres of combat of World War II and the Korean War).

Over 79 episodes, actors who appeared in the series included James Franciscus, Don Haggerty, Dennis Weaver, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Chuck Connors, Claude Akins, James Drury, Jack Lord, Dick Van Patten, Mike Connors, Edward Platt, Frank Gorshin, Bob Denver, Richard Crenna, Alan Reed Jr, Wally Cassell, Richard Benedict, Stafford Repp and Michael Pate.

The Silent Service was the brainchild of Rear Admiral Thomas M Dykers (retired), who hosted the series as well as writing for it and acting as executive producer. He served in the navy for 26 years, more than half of which were spent in the submarine service.

The series was made with the cooperation of the Department of Defense and the US Navy, who loaned the USS Sawfish to film several episodes.

Narrator
Thomas M Dykers