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3%% The examples have been alphabetized. Please put any new example in its proper place in the folder rather than at the end.
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7[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/undersea.jpg]]
8[[caption-width-right:250:Think of it as your regular secret base. Except instead of birds, you have [[ThreateningShark sharks]].[[note]]Art by Jacque Fresco from his book ''Designing the Future'', page 62[[/note]]]]
9
10->''"If you're looking for me,\
11You'd better check under the sea,\
12'Cause that is where you'll find me\
13Underneath the Sealab\
14Underneath the water\
15Sealab...\
16At the bottom of the sea."''
17-->-- ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021''
18
19Characters have their base of operations underwater in a domed lair. The glass dome is unrealistic but due to the RuleOfCool, they are common. Somewhat more common with villains, but there are scientific research bases and oil drilling bases in some works. The underwater lair is good for keeping out unwanted visitors. After all, it takes more effort to break in if you have to be looking out for giant squids and sharks at the same time. To get to the base, a submarine is needed. The characters may be imperiled by an undersea monster.
20
21Compare ElaborateUndergroundBase, IslandBase, SpaceBase. See also UnderwaterCity.
22
23While fictional heroes and villains like to keep their submarines in undersea bases, in RealLife, navies put their submarines in sheltered pens at the surface level. In RealLife, scientists build underwater habitats for oceans and marine creature research. NASA uses some underwater habitats to train new astronauts, making this a Real Life application of the "SpaceIsAnOcean" trope.
24
25----
26!!Examples:
27
28[[foldercontrol]]
29
30[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
31* ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'': [[WingedHumanoid The Brahmins]]' HomeBase on Earth is an underwater base serving as their headquarters to launch attacks from.
32* Boa's fortress in ''Anime/FlyingPhantomShip''.
33* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'': The Gutsy Galaxy Guard's headquarters is an underwater "Harbor Reef Base" located [[spoiler:underneath the Japan Aeronautics headquarters]]. Later, [[spoiler:after the 31 Primevals trash both the Aeronautics headquarters and the base with their attacks]], they relocate to an orbital space station base.
34* ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': Marquis Janus HomeBase is an IslandBase that can submerge.
35* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': TheDragon Baron Ashura is commander of Dr. Hell's sea and submarine fortresses and has two underwater bases: Salude and Bood.
36* ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'' has had a few, and thus by extension, so has ''Anime/EagleRiders'' and ''Anime/BattleOfThePlanets''.
37** The most noteworthy is Crescent Coral Base (Center Neptune in ''[[Anime/BattleOfThePlanets BotP]]''), which has thrusters on the bottom allowing it to physically move and change locations if discovered and projects a fake coral reef above on the water surface to fool people.
38** ''Gatchaman II'' has G-Town, a huge mobile base (more like a city) at the very bottom of the ocean.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Comic Books]]
42* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
43** ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': Plenty of these have shown up in stories. For example, Dr. Stephen Shin worked at a research station called Triton Base.
44** ''ComicBook/SuperSons'': Batman and Superman gift one of these to Jon and Damian after they proved their ability to work as a team. It comes with everything: weight rooms for training, a supercomputer for analysis, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a mini-fridge for snacks.]]
45** ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
46*** ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'': The villainous Silicon Dragons' base is an elaborate underwater affair off the coast of Maui that gets flooded section by section as Superboy and the ComicBook/SuicideSquad infiltrate it.
47*** ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'': Lex Luthor has a mobile submarine base (until Franchise/{{Superman}} destroys it).
48*** Superman established an undersea Fortress in the Sargasso Sea in ''Comicbook/ActionComics'' #244, but he abandoned it shortly after.
49*** ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'': Supergirl has her own undersea base -- called Sanctuary -- in ''[[Comicbook/{{Supergirl 2011}} Supergirl Volume 6]]'' #12. Unfortunately it got blown up in issue #20.
50* ''ComicBook/StarWarsInvasion'': The resistance on Artorias is based in a complex under its seas, the only place left unscathed by the Vong's HostileTerraforming.
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Fan Works]]
54* ''Fanfic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls'' has Subterrene, the base of operations of Novus Partus located directly beneath the surface of Bermuda.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
58* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', the entrance to Syndrome's magnificent ElaborateUndergroundBase is under the sea, built for submersible aircraft to use.
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
62* The mobile undersea drilling rig in ''Film/TheAbyss'' is a textbook example. It's also somewhat closer to being scientifically accurate, as the rig's interior is pressurized. It takes hours to adjust to the rig's atmosphere going down, and under normal circumstances it would take days to decompress back to normal surface pressure.
63* ''Film/AustinPowers'': "Welcome to my submarine lair! [[DoubleEntendre It's long, hard and full of seamen]]."
64* ''Film/CaptainNemoAndTheUnderwaterCity'' puts the city of "Templemere" under a dome at the bottom of the ocean, where the submarine ''[[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Nautilus]]'' has its berth -- and this is supposedly done during a time when the best technology is steam-powered.
65* The titular research base in ''Film/DeepStarSix''.
66* The 1966 film ''Film/DestinationInnerSpace'' is about an underwater research station being menaced by an [[FishPeople icthyoid]] alien.
67* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' features one of these as the villains' main base.
68* The monster-hunting coalition Monarch's flagship facility in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' is built into underwater bedrock, with its above-water facilities being disguised as a mundane oil rig. Monarch has another, more remote base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, which is shown in the novelization.
69* The research base in ''Film/Leviathan1989''.
70* The plot of ''Film/TheNeptuneFactor'' starts with the destruction of a small undersea research station.
71* Stromberg's home in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.
72* [[spoiler:The two drilling rigs]] in ''Film/{{Underwater}}''. The reason why the spoiler is there is because [[spoiler:when the protagonists reach the second rig, lost some time prior to the film, they find more evidence that [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the company they work for]] is running on [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Weyland-Yutani]] rules: the stuff they drill is much more important to them than their lives and [[EldritchAbomination potentially those of the entire human race]]]].
73* ''Film/VirusShark'': The majority of the movie is set on the Cygnus Research Facility, an underwater base that was repurposed as a research facility.
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Literature]]
77* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': The plot of #15 involves the Animorphs morphing sharks to investigate and destroy the Yeerks' underwater base where they're modifying sharks to have brains controllable by Yeerks, to use in the invasion of Leera.
78* Beebe Station from the ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy''.
79* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'':
80** It is alluded to that the AncientConspiracy owns one.
81** Also, [[spoiler:in ''The Penultimate Peril'', Hotel Denouement is actually a library under the water that reflects the hotel. Everything on the hotel is written backwards so that it's correct in the reflection]].
82* ''Literature/{{Sphere}}'' is primarily set in a US Navy deep-saturation underwater research habitat.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
86* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep Warriors of the Deep]]" is set in an underwater base, from which nuclear weapons were controlled.
87* The Looking Glass station in ''Series/{{Lost}}'', used by the Others to block all communications coming to the island.
88* ''Series/LostInOz'' has a heroic version with Bellaridere's underwater palace.
89* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In "Forward Base", the eponymous base turns out to be an elaborate submersible community hidden in Lake Ontario.
90* In ''Series/OceanGirl'', the scientists live and work inside an undersea habitat called the Oceanic Research Centre of Australia, or [[FunWithAcronyms ORCA for short]].
91* In ''Series/{{Raumpatrouille}}'', both Spaceship Base 104 (the military headquarters and that of the Galactic Security Service) and the crew's private homes are situated at the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
92* MAT[[note]]Monster Attack Team[[/note]] has one such base under Tokyo Bay in ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman''. The base is destroyed in the final episode.
93* ''Franchise/SuperSentai''/''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
94** ''Series/KyukyuSentaiGoGoV'' has Bay Area 55 (the mecha hangar), which is protected by magical symbols, providing an effective demon deterrent. In the {{Frankenslation}} ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'', it was deliberately chosen because water is the demons' WeaksauceWeakness; otherwise, they would have destroyed the base as early as episode 2.
95** ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'' and ''Series/BattleFeverJ'' also have underwater bases.
96* ''Series/TotalRecall2070'': Farve the android's mysterious creator is hiding in a derelict underwater base inside a radioactive lake that hasn't been visited by humans in decades.
97* The ''Series/UFO1970'' episode "Reflections in the Water" has an underwater alien base.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
101* Kadath Station in ''TabletopGame/DeepMadness'' is halfway between this and UnderwaterCity. On the one hand, it is a very extensive location that requires trains to connect between sections. On the other hand, every square inch is necessary for the base's function, there are no commodities and it's very claustrophobic.
102* ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'':
103** The sourcebook ''Blood Dimmed Tides'' features one of these in the form of Project Deepwater, an underwater laboratory built right on the edge of the Mariana Trench. The result of an ongoing alliance between [[EvilInc Pentex]] and the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Technocracy]], it was established for the purposes of harvesting supernatural resources from the ocean -- and for continuing Pentex's efforts to ruin the environment.
104** As discussed in the splatbook for [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension the Void Engineers]], there are several that are maintained by the Engineers, as their explicit aims are to explore everything, not just space or Umbral realms (plus, things learned with underwater exploration are frequently applicable for exploring space/other dimensions). However, prior to the Avatar Storm, this was given much less attention (and, consequently, much less budget than other Engineer programs). Post-Avatar Storm, their remoteness (particularly from the Sleepers) combined with the loss of bases in Umbral realms result in increased importance of these bases for the Technocracy as a whole; several even get upgraded to {{Underwater Cit|y}}ies.
105* Several new underwater territories have been added to the [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture futuristic]] ''TabletopGame/{{Risk}} 2210 A.D.'' board game, compared to its original, much better-known, incarnation.
106* ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' features a wide range of established sub-aquatic operations; the most exotic are deep in the ice-covered oceans of Europa, a moon of Jupiter, where a miniature war is being fought for the future of the moon.
107[[/folder]]
108
109[[folder:Video Games]]
110* ''[[VideoGame/AnnoDomini Anno 2070]]'' requires you to build a few of these to harvest certain high-end resources. There's also an NPC faction, the Ebashi Trench Observatory, who may have a base in the region. You can trade with them, and they'll even sell you spare submarines.
111* In ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'', you infiltrate an underwater base where the Chinese are trying to build a condenser portal.
112* Rapture of ''VideoGame/BioShock'' is an UnderwaterCity, of course, but the more utilitarian areas of it fit this trope.
113* The Ocean Palace of Zeal in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', [[spoiler:at least before it turns into the Black Omen]].
114* The future time zone of ''VideoGame/DarkFall II: Lights Out'' contains a submerged research facility close to where the lighthouse used to be called D.E.O.S. (Deep Explorations of Space). [[spoiler:It's where the sentient space probe Malakai was developed and launched from.]]
115* ''VideoGame/DeepFear'' is essentially "''Franchise/ResidentEvil'', [[RecycledWithAGimmick but in an underwater military base!]]", although it does make use of the setting update, mainly by adding the lack of oxygen and conserving it as major game mechanics. It also [[{{Deconstruction}} quietly acknowledges how]] incredibly expensive a facility would be to make, requiring civilian corporations to share parts of it for maintenance after the US Navy cut its funding -- one of which was an agricultural company breeding surface animals to become your enemies [[GoneHorriblyWrong when a mutating virus spreads around]]. Whoops.
116* The Pasadena Ocean Lab in ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' is just an advanced research facility for the BigBad, and devoid of life,[[labelnote:*]]''human'' life, anyway[[/labelnote]] but information there is vital to his plans, and TheDragon makes an appearance.
117* The Swedish game ''Djuphavsjakten'' ("The deep sea hunt") features this. The exact details are a spoiler, [[spoiler:as it turns out to feature this trope ''twice'' -- once you capture the villain's first underwater base of operations, it turns out he has a larger underwater base deeper into the ocean, leaving the good guys to build up the captured base for their own underwater operations]].
118* There's an abandoned underwater base in ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' which was originally used by [[spoiler:Ninten's great-grandfather]].
119* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' has the Catapult, an underground/underwater base of LostTechnology. Among other things, it features an airship docking bay, a teleporter and a ship-sized elevator to the sea surface. And the icing on the cake? It's ''[[PlayerHeadquarters yours]]'' now.
120* The deep-sea military installation NORAD VI in ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'', where a robot is sent to launch a nuclear missile that would disrupt world unification.
121* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has one owned by the Selkath on Manaan -- "owned" being in the past tense.
122* Constructing underwater structures is a popular activity in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''.
123* Cycorp's Manufacturing Center in ''VideoGame/NetZone'' is a {{Cyberspace}} variant, accessed by a virtual submarine. Cycorp used it to construct their [[ArtificialIntelligence CY-11s]], but it's since been [[spoiler:taken over and altered by [[BigBad Walter Sayle]] for building and unleashing his [[ComputerVirus Cyberworm virus]]]].
124* The undersea base of the villainous team in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire''. Which team it is depends on what you're playing. In ''Ruby'', it's Magma; in ''Sapphire'' and ''Emerald'', it's Aqua (while Magma's base is instead hidden inside [[VolcanoLair Mt. Chimney]]).
125* ''VideoGame/PsychonautsInTheRhombusOfRuin'' takes place in an abandoned underwater research station originally built by the Psychonauts to harvest and study Psilirium, a mineral that has [[GRatedDrug severely disorienting and mind-altering effects on psychics]]. The reason it was abandoned was that the Psilirium deposits were so big and powerful it overwhelmed nearly everyone working there, causing vivid hallucinations.
126* ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' has the second half of Dive Man's level. Mega Man finds it by using Rush Marine to dive down to the point where the background is black and heading right.
127* The underwater research facility Pathos-II is this in ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'', It was primarily used for building satellites to be launched in a magnetic railgun, but [[spoiler:since [[CometOfDoom comet Telos]] scorched the Earth above, only the base's inhabitants survived]].
128* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': Eggman has a few of these. Examples include [[VideoGame/SonicTripleTrouble Tidal Plant]], [[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy Ocean Base]] (which has surprisingly little in the way of underwater segments), and [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Aquatic Base]] (SuperDrowningSkills here).
129* In ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'', you can make these using the Builder tool, the right blueprints, and raw materials. [[spoiler:You get most of these blueprints from scanning abandoned bases left behind by the survivors of another human spaceship that crash-landed on the planet years earlier. And then you find decidedly non-human installations built by the very same alien {{Precursors}} that are responsible for your predicament in the first place...]]
130* The Blackwater Research Facility in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIIITheLostArtifact'', covertly built beneath the Channel Tunnel between France and the UK.
131* Grineer MadScientist Tyl Regor from ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' owns several labs under the surface of Uranus' oceans,[[note]]Yes, an ice giant. It has been {{terraform}}ed at some point into an ocean planet, complete with seabed and habitable surface.[[/note]] featuring Grineer Drekar units and water leaking from the ceilings.
132* The last mission of the WOPR campaign in ''VideoGame/WarGamesDefcon1'' has the players locating the last NORAD base, which is hidden in the Sea of Japan, by capturing a NORAD lab in Tokyo causing the base to rise out of the waters. They then send their units to destroy the base, leading to WOPR's TheBadGuyWins ending.
133* The final location of ''VideoGame/WithinADeepForest'', and the setting of the ''VideoGame/KnyttStories'' level ''An Underwater Adventure'', which is an alternate version of ''Within a Deep Forest'''s story.
134* ''VideoGame/XCom'':
135** Since ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep'' is basically ''[[VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense X-COM]]'' '''UNDERWATER!''', these make up the bases of your organization. The alien bases, including [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon T'leth]], also apply.
136** The final mission of ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' involves an assault on an ADVENT controlled underwater base.
137* This is the setting of the entire game of ''VideoGame/XPerts'', an underwater research facility/nuclear weapons storage that has been hijacked by terrorists.
138[[/folder]]
139
140[[folder:Webcomics]]
141* Madblood's lair (a later one) in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''.
142* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', the UNS Internal Affairs Intelligence agency's base is a huge, roughly spherical submarine that drifts about in the ice-covered ocean of the moon Europa.
143* In ''Webcomic/WeAreTheWyrecats'', Lamar's base of operations is located in the Mariana Trench.
144[[/folder]]
145
146[[folder:Web Original]]
147* ''WebVideo/CoyleCommand'' has Poseidon's vault.
148* ''Website/GaiaOnline'': The FinalBoss battle of ''zOMG!'' Chapter One takes place in [[spoiler:Labtech X]]'s Underwater Base.
149* ''Blog/HowToHero'' mentions that the superhero team Hero Force has an underwater headquarters where they host mahjong night for retired superheroes every Thursday at 3 pm.
150* [[http://www.villainsource.com/ Villain Source]] (Your Online Source For Everything Evil) naturally has one of these for sale. However you have to provide your own aquatic construction personnel. And avoid flooding the place from the [[BigRedButton obvious]] and [[NoOshaCompliance accessible]] control panels.
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:Western Animation]]
154* A villain in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' has one that bears [[ShoutOut more than a passing resemblance]] to WesternAnimation/{{Sealab|2020}}. His StartOfDarkness came from [[CabinFever spending too much time on his own down there]].
155* Lake Laogai in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is an underwater facility used by the Dai Li to program their StepfordSmiler "guides", and brainwash anyone who dares to mention the existence of the war against the Fire Nation or otherwise disrupt the orderly operation of Ba Sing Se.
156* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'' has one of their equipment and operations facilities, "Sealab", underwater.
157* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E2TheDepthsOfCousinFethry The Depths of Cousin Fethry!]]" has Fethry Duck working in an undersea research base.
158* MAD from ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' uses a few of these.
159* Dr. Drakken of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' uses a few of these. He even had one in the show's crossover with ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries''!
160* The Octopod in ''WesternAnimation/TheOctonauts''.
161* ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2020'', and by extension, ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021''.
162* The bioborgs' base in ''WesternAnimation/SkysurferStrikeForce''.
163* Sandy's Treedome from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''.
164* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'': The LegionOfDoom has their headquarters beneath a swamp in ''Challenge of the Superfriends''.
165* Brother Blood designs one on ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' after Cyborg destroys his first headquarters. Cyborg destroys this one, too.
166* The Decepticons' ship in the first two series of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''; likewise, Devil Z's base in ''Anime/TransformersSuperGodMasterforce''.
167* Wolverine is trapped in one in ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009''.
168[[/folder]]
169
170[[folder:Real Life]]
171* Sea Base Alpha in the EPCOT attraction The Living Seas, before the Nemo makeover.
172* [[https://jul.com/ Jules Verne Undersea Lodge]] was once a research base off the coast of Puerto Rico, but was moved to an artificial lagoon in Key Largo, Florida. It now serves as a unique hotel room.
173* The Aquarius Reef Base is an underwater habitat for research. It is 5.4 mi (8.7 km) off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It is built on the ocean floor 62 ft (19 m) below the surface, next to a coral reef.Since 2001, NASA has used Aquarius for its NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) missions to train astronauts. NASA sends groups of astronauts underwater because it is a way to simulate human spaceflight in preparation for their space exploration missions.
174[[/folder]]
175

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