History Recap / MonkS7E5MrMonkIsUnderwater

** In addition, the sub wouldn't have left port on a new mission without a new XO in the first place, and a surprise announcement of fleet exercises would still mean more than 30 seconds before leaving port.

* ClosedCircle: When you're in a submarine under the ocean...well, it's hard to get more isolated then that.

* ShoutOut: Monk isn't the only crime show [[Recap/ColumboS03E03 that had a murderer fake a gunshot going off with a firework.]]

* AbsenteeActor: Stottlemeyer does not appear in the episode proper, but Creator/TedLevine still appears in the opening credits.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary

Navy Lieutenant Steven Albright, who knew Natalie and her late husband Mitch from years back and unsuccessfully pursued a relationship with her before she got together with Mitch, shows up unexpectedly. He clearly still has feelings for her, but his main reason for the visit is Monk. Albright is the chief medical officer of the submarine USS Seattle, whose NumberTwo, Jason Pierce, recently died while on board the ship. The details obviously scream suicide. Pierce was absent from the bridge during a drill, and Albright went to his cabin with the ship's captain, Commander Nathan Whitaker, and found it locked. While trying to get in, they heard a gunshot, and after kicking open the door found Pierce dead on the floor with an empty vodka bottle and a gun, and with the keys to the room in his pocket. But Albright has multiple reasons for doubting that Pierce took his own life, no matter how clear-cut it seems.

Monk is reluctant to even go on board a submarine because of all the tight spaces. And it gets much worse when the sub leaves port suddenly for fleet exercises and Monk and Natalie are stuck on board. The captain clearly doesn't like the presence of civilians on board but can't do anything about it for the time. Monk investigates as best he can while being ordered to stay out of the way and while hallucinating that Dr. Bell is with him on board. Monk finds that on a previous voyage, the Seattle brushed against an underwater ridge with Whitaker and Pierce on the bridge, an incident attributed to an outdated navigation chart and that caused little damage to the ship but resulted in a crewman being critically injured. Monk further discovers that this crewman finally succumbed to his injuries on the same day that Pierce died, and then finds a updated navigation chart. But instead of being used, the chart is hidden in the captain's possession. Monk theorizes that Whitaker and Pierce swapped out the outdated chart to avoid a court martial. Upon finding a couple of details of the crime scene that link to Whitaker, he figures that Pierce had a change of heart about the cover-up once he learned that the injured crewman had died, and that Whitaker had killed Pierce to avoid being found out.

When Monk confronts Whitaker, the captain is apparently unperturbed, as everyone on the ship trusts him and follows his orders and Monk is just a clumsy civilian who nobody (except Albright) knows. Actually though, he's worried enough to lure Monk and Natalie into a ballast tank with a fake note written as if it's from Albright, and then order a crash dive to fill the tanks with water. But when Albright finds the discarded note, he saves their lives and confronts the captain. The situation is enough to make the crew suspicious - and then Monk explains what happened. Whitaker forced Pierce to drink the vodka at gunpoint, then shot him with a silenced handgun, then placed the gun in Pierce's hand and stole Pierce's keys. He then attached a firecracker to a lit cigarette, hide those behind a vent, and went to the bridge to order the drill, so that when he and Albright ran to Pierce's cabin, the "gunshot" sound from within the room was actually the firecracker going off. Then when he rushed to the body, he put the keys back in Pierce's pocket to complete the illusion of a room locked from within. When the remains of the firecracker are discovered in the vent along with Whitaker's fingerprints, he backs down and relieves himself from command of the ship.

!!This episode includes examples of the following tropes:

** Ballast tanks are not accessible from the rest of the vessel.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Why Lt. Albright doesn't believe Pierce got drunk and shot himself. First of all, he was a devout Roman Catholic and would probably have rejected suicide. Also, despite being a recovering alcoholic, he had been sober for months and was very open about his past struggles and so it's unlikely he would have relapsed without anyone knowing. Neither proves anything, but it's enough for Albright to get Monk involved.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Why Lt. Albright doesn't believe Pierce got drunk and shot himself. First of all, he was a devout Roman Catholic and would probably have rejected suicide. Also, despite being a recovering alcoholic, he had been sober for months and was very open about his past struggles and so it's unlikely he would have relapsed without anyone knowing. Neither proves anything, but it's enough for Albright to get Monk involved.
* SocietyMarchesOn: Albright mentions that he's unmarried, in part because he works on a submarine and they're not coed. True when this episode aired in 2008, but women started serving on US Navy submarines in 2012.

** ASW is not "Attack Submarine Warfare", it's "Anti-Submarine Warfare"
** Ballast tanks on a submarine are not accessible from the rest of the vessel.

** Variously {{Averted}} and {{Played Straight}} with regards to how Whitaker is addressed. Whitaker is captain of the Seattle, and his rank is Commander. In the US Navy, "Captain" means two things, being both a rank (Captain is one step above Commander and one step below the lowest grade of Admiral) and a job description that means you are first in command of a vessel. The captain of a particular vessel is always addressed as "captain" while on board it, regardless of rank. In this episode Whitaker is variously addressed as both "captain" and "commander".
** A naval officer not wearing a hat would not normally [[MilitarySalute salute]] a civilian wearing an enlisted uniform. However, given the circumstances, [[spoiler: that Whitaker is going to be arrested for murder,]] Whitaker inappropriately saluting Monk is the least of his problems.

* IResembleThatRemark: Monk responds to Whitaker's claim he's delusional... by having Dr. Bell, who he's ''hallucinating'' is with him, vouch for him.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Why Lt. Albright doesn't believe Pierce got drunk and shot himself. First of all, he was a devout Roman Catholic and would probably have rejected suicide. Also, despite being a recovering alcoholic, he had been sober for months and was very open about his past struggles and so it's unlikely he would have relapsed without anyone knowing. Neither proves anything, but it's enough for Albright to get Monk involved.

* {{Irony}}: When Whitaker shares his [[BlasphemousBoast God of the Seattle complex]] with Monk, the latter calls him out as crazy. ''This'' coming from the guy who is hallucinating Dr. Bell is on the submarine with him.

** Variously {{Averted}} and {{Played Straight}} with regards to how Whitaker is addressed. Whitaker is captain of the Seattle, and his rank is Commander. In the US Navy, "Captain" means two things, being both a rank (Captain is one step above Commander and one step below the lowest grade of Admiral) and a job description that means you are first in command of a vessel. The captain of a particular vessel is always addressed as "captain" while on board it, regardless of rank. In this episode he is variously addressed as both "captain" and "commander".

* HollywoodSilencer: Whitaker shot Pierce with a pistol longways through an empty soda bottle. This be highly ineffective at reducing sound, especially in the small passageways and close quarters of a submarine. In addition, Whitaker firing a gun in such a small enclosed cabin would have seriously damaged his own hearing and caused himself considerable pain.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Why Lt. Albright doesn't believe Pierce got drunk and shot himself. First of all, he was a devout Roman Catholic and would probably have rejected suicide. Also, despite being a recovering alcoholic, he had been sober for months and was very open about his past struggles and so it's unlikely he would have relapsed without anyone knowing.

** {{Averted}} in one notable instance though - Nathan Whitaker is captain of the Seattle, and is referred to as captain even though his rank is Commander. This is actually correct. In the US Navy, "Captain" means two things, being both a rank (Captain is one step above Commander and one step below the lowest grade of Admiral) and a job description that means you are first in command of a vessel. While on board a vessel, the captain of that ship is always addressed as "captain" regardless of rank.

* HollywoodSilencer: