History Main / HotSubOnSubAction

* {{Subverted|Trope}} at the beginning of ''Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoningPartOne''. At first, it appears a Russian submarine (called ''Sevastopol'') and an American one are engaging each other... only for the Russian crew to find out the American sub never existed (it was an illusion created by the [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI]] "The Entity" on their detection instruments). The torpedo they launched, meanwhile, [[OhCrap returns]] [[UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem back at them]].

* %%''VideoGame/DangerousWaters''

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[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/SubmarineAttack https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/subattack.png]]]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
%%* ''Manga/Submarine707R'' (Mission 2)
%%* ''Manga/TheSilentService''
* ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'' features a scene where the team's mobile base is being pursued separately by both an American and Soviet sub. The heroes make their getaway when the two subs notice each other and begin fighting.
* ''Anime/BlueSubmarineNo6'', although it's less sub-on-sub and more sub-on-monster-whales.
* ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'': The last episodes of season 1 feature the huge submarine from which the hero operates trying to and succeeding in evading an American Los Angeles class submarine captained by an officer obsessed with Mithril's mythical submarine unofficially called "Toy Box". While the Tuatha de Danaan doesn't fire a single torpedo, the Americans on the other hand do, she (and it's a definite she at that point as the "female" AI commanding it was linked to the shows resident tsundere Kaname Chidori) does get to pull some very impressive maneuvers verging on the impossible for such a huge sub, and forces the American sub to the surface.

* ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' is the TropeCodifier. It features a Soviet submarine captain trying to defect to the United States; he goes up against fellow Soviet sub crews who are aware of his intentions, and American sub crews who are not.

* ''Film/{{U 571}}'' does this, with the Americans in the captured German U-Boat destroying another submerged German U-Boat with torpedoes.
* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' features what amounts to a dogfight [[InSpace UNDERWATER!]] It also features what amounts to the trench run in ''Franchise/StarWars'' Episode 4 [[InSpace UNDERWATER!]].

** Also, throughout the film, it's less that ''Stingray'' and ''Orlando'' fight and more that ''Stingray'' does everything they can think of to ''avoid a fight'' with the nuclear sub, to include using other ships to mask the sound of their sub or [[RefugeInAudacity stringing up lights and running on the surface while singing badly so they might be mistaken for a group of drunken fishermen.]] Once ''Orlando'' has a solid fix on ''Stingray'', the only question is whether the diesel sub can attack her objective before ''Orlando'' can get a firing solution on her. In a standup fight, it's implied there's little the WWII-era sub could hope to do against the Cold War attack sub
* ''Film/TheAbyss'' deserves a mention here. The minisubs involved aren't fighting with weapons -- they're fighting ''over'' a weapon. .

* ''Film/InEnemyHands'' features several undersea battles with American and German submarines in the closing days of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} at the beginning of ''Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoningPartOne''. At first, it appears a Russian submarine (called ''Sevastopol'') and an American one are engaging each other... only for the Russian crew to find out the American sub never existed (it was an illusion created by the [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue AI]] "The Entity" on their detection instruments). The torpedo they launched, meanwhile, [[OhCrap returns]] [[UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem back at them]].

* ''Literature/{{Skipjack}}'' gives this an interesting twist, in that the ocean the submarines fight in is on a terraformed Mars.
* There's a sub v. sub fight in, of all places, ZombieApocalypse novel ''Literature/WorldWarZ''. And no, neither sub was piloted by Zombies. The subs involved were both nuclear submarines crewed by loyalist and renegade members of the Chinese Navy as China was being torn apart by both the zombie epidemic and a civil war. [[spoiler:The renegade sub won, and then proceeded to nuke the Politburo to end the civil war]].

* Seen on ''Series/LastResort'' as the US Navy thinks the ''USS Colorado'' has gone rogue and is expending every effort to recapture or sink her, and the best way to do that is with attack subs. As it noted above, this ''is'' indeed the best way to destroy the ''Colorado''. The crew even comment that the odds are against them, as their sub is ''not'' designed to engage other submarines. [[spoiler:Instead they simply outmaneuver the opposing subs, get to a depth where they can launch their nuclear missiles, and open their silo doors. The other subs take the hint and back off]].

* The tabletop game Captain Sonar has two teams each controlling a sub and attempting to locate and sink the opposing team.

* In the American campaign of ''VideoGame/BattlestationsPacific'', this is an AvertedTrope due to the fact that no Japanese submarines appear in the levels where American submarines are present. Played straight in the Japanese campaign though.

* ''VideoGame/InTheHunt'' is practically ''made'' of this about half the time. You play a sub, and you shoot down enemy subs... and planes, robots, a dragon-snail, and a LivingStatue.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has a [[UnexpectedGameplayChange minigame]] where you pilot a submarine to seek and destroy another submarine.
* ''VideoGame/RedFaction'': Both the original game and ''VideoGame/RedFactionII'' had a submarine-on-submarine section with ridiculously clear water.
* The classic sub simulator ''688AttackSub'' features several Cold War-era missions that involve sub-on-sub combat.
* ''VideoGame/SubmarineTitans'', a real-time strategy game taking place underwater with subs. Combat occurs at close range, but stray torpedoes can hit targets at a distance.
* Creator/SidMeier also did a game version of ''Literature/RedStormRising'', which, like the novel mentioned above, has plenty of this.
** Completely [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the sequel, though. Japanese subs didn't even have any sprites.
** Also [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the NES version - there were no other subs. The %@&! kaiboken, on the other hand...
* VideoGame/DangerousWaters.
* Subs are reasonably effective against other subs in ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'', though [[TacticalRockPaperScissors ultimately less effective than cruisers at the job]].

* ''VideoGame/XCOMTerrorFromTheDeep'' had this when intercepting alien craft. Then again, all of the alien races from this installment of the X-Com series were amphibious, traveled around in weird-looking submarines, and came from a colony ship that crashed some 65 million years ago.
** Also, for the sake of completeness, the submarines in the game are ''flying'' submarines. That's right: sufficient velocity to break the surface of the water means you can activate turbo jets and fly! Weapons only work underwater though (which generally makes sense: torpedoes don't have the right engines, the powerful sonic cannon apparently has vastly decreased range when you're traveling faster than the speed of sound, and the omni-powerful Pulse Wave Torpedo actually requires water to work properly).
* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' features submarines as an entry-level naval unit, but due to the lack of decent anti-submarine weapons, they tend to be used in massed fleets late game. The only real counter to these fleets are more submarines as destroyers(the anti-submarine boat) are simply too expensive to produce in large numbers and torpedo bombers (the anti-submarine aircraft) are vulnerable to anti-aircraft surface fire.
** The ''Forged Alliance'' expansion pack adds submarine hunters for each of the factions as a counter to this. The submarine hunters tend to be effective against submerged targets but are vulnerable to surface warships.
* ''[[VideoGame/NavalOps Warship Gunner 2]]'' allows you to engage enemy subs underwater if you're controlling a submarine. Note that you are completely PointDefenseless while submerged and submarines usually attack with torpedoes. If you'd researched the best sonar and long-range torpedoes (giving yourself superior detection and attack range to enemy subs), you'd be fine as long as you didn't advance too quickly. If you didn't do that, expect to see the game over screen frequently.
* Pretty much averted in ''Videogame/WarcraftII''. Submarines and sea turtles must surface to fire and can only be fired upon if a flying unit (griffon, dragon, helicopter, or zeppelin), tower or another sub or sea turtle can see them.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'': The Soviets' only combat naval unit is a submarine, which stays invisible until attacked but can't hit land targets (fortunately, destroying all buildings forces them to emerge, making finishing them off much easier). The expansions gave them the Missile Sub, which can hit surface targets but has a shorter range than the Cruiser.
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2: Yuri's Revenge'', the Soviets and Yuri's forces have submarines, except a fight between them involves floating in place while shooting one torpedo after another until either is destroyed. The Allies only have surface ships and trained [[HeroicDolphin dolphins]].
* ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 Red Alert 3]]'' gives Akula submarines to the Soviets and smaller Yari mini-subs (which can perform kamikaze attacks) to the Empire. [[NervousWreck Neither is very happy at their job.]] The Imperial Sea-Wing is also underwater but doesn't count because it is anti-air only in that state (it can take off and fly, but can only engage surface targets). The Allies are again left with dolphins, which can't submerge or attack submerged targets, although their Riptide ACVs and Assault Destroyers can fire on submerged units.
** Both subs are visible to other units but not radar, meaning you can hear "Enemy unit spotted" but have to take a wild guess as to where).
** The Akula is the only sub that can (technically) attack without surfacing: its Ultratorpedoes ability fires a pair of supercavitating torpodes straight ahead that don't stop until they hit something, be it friend or foe. However, this attack takes a while to recharge, and hitting a specific target requires the sub to be pointed in the right direction. Which, given the series' wonky pathfinding, is easier said than done.
* The old Origin game Subwars 2050 was an action/simulator of submarine combat where submarines are purposely built with aerodynamic, jetfighter-like hulls for better maneuverability. Oddly in-game this doesn't play out so much as the game isn't so much a big dogfight as it's about deciding when to switch from passive to active sonar and launching guided torpedoes at the enemy from a range that's too close for them to evade from.
* ''VideoGame/SteelDiver'' is a submarine action/simulation hybrid that bends a few rules of reality, and has some submarines as enemies.
* In ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'', sub-sub fights are quite common because submerged subs can only be attacked by cruisers and other subs. Given that cruisers are not constantly invisible and very vulnerable to battleships and bombers, they tend to be prime targets of opportunity and generally die quicker than subs. A sub attacking another sub will do between 55-65% damage; most sub battles end up with 8 HP on the attacker and 4 on the defender.
** The fan [[SpriteComic Sprite Comic]] Bob Squad. At one point, a sub tries to attack a lander carrying the main characters. On their turn, the lander -- which can neither dive or attack -- proceeds to do BOTH. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensues]].
* Because subs in most versions of ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' are invisible except to each other and certain air units, they tend to be most useful for keeping one another at bay.
* ''VideoGame/FromTheDepths'': One of the best ways to deal with enemy subs is to send your own sub after them.
* ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'': The "Zubmariner" DLC, naturally, comes with many enemy submersibles to match your own against.
* As it's set during the Cold War and is the spiritual successor to ''VideoGame/RedStormRising'', ''VideoGame/ColdWaters'' features ''lots'' of submarine combat, in addition to plenty of anti-surface attacks.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant If you were looking for]] the ''other'' kind of "sub", [[Film/BlackPanther2018 we don't do that here]] -- the much cleaner TwiceShy is about as close as you'd get. And by that other sub, we didn't mean submarine sandwiches.

That said, it does reflect actual military doctrine despite the sparsity of major naval conflict since World War II. This is because due to the nature of water acoustics and sonar a submarine has the best chance of successfully detecting another submarine as other real time methods are comparatively deaf. Whilst the crew of the ''Venturer'' only [[AwesomeByAnalysis had paper, pencils and decent maths skills]] to plot a firing solution, modern subs have computers and advanced homing torpedoes - had the UsefulNotes/ColdWar turned hot after the 1960s (not before then), there certainly would have been underwater submarine battles--and in fairness, that is when a large number of such sub battles are set (thank you, Creator/TomClancy!). NATO and Warsaw Pact submarines followed each other about all the time. Current American naval doctrine is to have each carrier battle group (structured around a ''Nimitz''- or ''Gerald Ford'' class supercarrier) accompanied by two [[UsefulNotes/TypesOfNavalShips nuclear attack submarines (SSN)]] which include enemy sub-killing in their tasking - these are generally known as "Hunter-Killer" submarines. In fact, it's often said that the best defense against submarines in modern warfare is your own submarines, as they can dive beneath thermocline layers that hostile subs would use to hide from surface ships[[note]] The advent of towed sonar arrays has allowed destroyers and similar ships to stream their "ears" beneath the layer, while devices like the US Navy's Prairie Masker system make them much harder to detect, closing the gap considerably. However, submarines remain inherently more stealthy than anything that stays on the surface.[[/note]]

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant If you were looking for]] the ''other'' kind of "sub", [[Film/BlackPanther2018 we don't do that here]] -- the much cleaner TwiceShy is about as close as you'd get.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/SubmarineAttack https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/subattack.png]]]]

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'': The last episodes of season 1 feature the huge submarine from which the hero operates trying to and succeeding in evading an American Los Angeles class submarine captained by an officer obsessed with Mithril's mythical submarine unofficially called "Toy Box". While the Tuatha de Danaan doesn't fire a single torpedo, the Americans on the other hand do, she (and it's a definite she at that point as the "female" AI commanding it was linked to the shows resident tsundere Kaname Chidori) does get to pull some very impressive maneuvers verging on the impossible for such a huge sub, and forces the American sub to the surface.

The depiction in movies of sub commanders issuing commands using a codified phraseology ("Adjust bow planes", "Dive, dive, dive!) is TruthInTelevision. To avoid misunderstandings, sub commands use established language, chosen for its clarity over radio microphones and headsets.