Lt. Commander Ron Hunter See you in my dreams.
To his wife, before leaving for duty
2nd most-quoted character in Crimson Tide (1995): in 20 of its 31 quotes
Most scenes with: Captain Frank Ramsey (14), Chief of the Boat (4)
Get the radio fixed Vossler. I could've built one by now.
More lines from Lt. Commander Ron Hunter
1 quote Lt. Commander Ron Hunter Scenes with Lt. Commander Ron Hunter
18 scenes
How do you like that cigar?
Hunter It's good, sir.
It's your first?
Hunter [coughing]
Yeah.
Well, don't like it too much. They're more expensive than drugs.
You do qualify your remarks. If someone asked me if we should bomb Japan, a simple "Yes. By all means sir, drop that ****er, twice!" I don't mean to suggest that you're indecisive, Mr. Hunter. Just, uh... complicated. 'course, that's the way the Navy wants you. Me, they wanted simple.
Hunter Well, you certainly fooled them, sir.
[chuckles]
Be careful there, Mr. Hunter. It's all I've got to rely on, being a simple-minded son of a bitch. Rickover gave me my command, a checklist, a target and a button to push. All I gotta know is how to push it, they tell me when. They seem to want you to know why.
Hunter I would hope they'd want us all to know why, sir.
At the Naval War College it was metallurgy and nuclear reactors, not 19th-century philosophy.
Hunter I think, sir, that what he was actually trying to say was a little more -
Complicated?
Hunter [Men laughing]
Yes the purpose of war is to serve a political end but the true nature of war is to serve itself.
[Laughing]
I'm very impressed. In other words, the sailor most likely to win the war is the one most willing to part company with the politicians and ignore everything except the destruction of the enemy. You'd agree with that.
Hunter I'd agree that, um, that's what Clausewitz was trying to say.
But you wouldn't agree with it?
Hunter No, sir, I do not. No, I just think that in the nuclear world the true enemy can't be destroyed.
[Chuckling, tapping glass]
Attention on deck. Von Clausewitz will now tell us exactly who the real enemy is.
Hunter [Men laughing]
In my humble opinion, in the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself.
Short of the outbreak of World War Three, the ship sinking... being attacked by a giant octopus, I'd like to be undisturbed for the next thirty minutes.
Hunter I'll see to it sir.
Hunter Rivetti, what's up?
Rivetti I'm sorry, Sir. It's just a difference of opinion that got out of hand.
Hunter What about?
Rivetti It's really too silly to talk about, Sir. I'd really just forget about...
Hunter I don't give a damn about what you'd rather forget about. Why were you two fighting?
Rivetti I said, the Kirby Silver Surfer was the only real Silver Surfer. And that the Moebius Silver Surfer was shit. And Bennefield's a big Moebius fan. And it got of hand. I pushed him. He pushed me. I lost my head, Sir. I'm Sorry.
Hunter Rivetti, you're a supervisor. You can get a commission like that.
Rivetti [Snaps finger]
I know, Sir. You're 100 percent right. It will never happen again.
Hunter It better not happen again. If I see this kind of nonsense again, I'm going to write you up. You understand? [No answer] Do you understand?
Rivetti Yes, Sir.
Hunter You have to set an example even in the face of stupidity. Everybody who reads comic books knows that the Kirby Silver Surfer is the only true Silver Surfer. Now am I right or wrong?
Rivetti You're right, Sir.
Hunter Now get out of here.
Rivetti Yes, Sir.
Hunter Captain, here's the results from the missile drill.
Hunter No sir. But, that's what they did.
I want this down to five minutes. Train on.
Hunter Yes, sir.
Tell your buddy Weaps to do it again, and keep on doing it until he gets it right.
Hunter Yes, sir.
It looks like the whole crew needs a kick in the ass.
Hunter Or a pat on the back, sir. I just witnessed a fight down in crew's mess, no big deal. It appears that the crew is a bit on edge about all we're going through. Morale seems a bit low.
[picks up the intercom and speaks into it]
May I have your attention please, crew of the Alabama, Mr. Hunter has brought it to my attention that morale maybe a bit low. and you might be a bit... [looks to Hunter]
Hunter [whispers]
On edge.
[over the intercom]
On edge. so, I suggest this. Any crew member who thinks that they can't handle the situation, can leave the ship right now. Gentlemen, we are at Defcon three, war is imminent. This the captain. That is all. [hangs up the intercom]
Hunter Very inspiring, sir.
Capt. Ramsey
We have orders in-hand. Those orders are to make a preemptive launch. Every second that we lose increases the chances that by the time our missiles arrive, their silos could be empty because they've flown their birds and struck us first.
Hunter Yes sir.
Capt. Ramsey
You know as well as I do that any launch order received without authentication, is no order at all.
Hunter Yes sir.
Capt. Ramsey
That's our number one rule.
Hunter National mil--
Capt. Ramsey
And that rule is the basis for the scenario we've trained on, time and time again. It's a rule we follow without exception.
Hunter Captain, National Military Command Center knows what sector we're in. They have satellites looking down on us to see if our birds are aloft and if they're not, then they give our orders to somebody else. That's why we maintain more than one sub, it's what they call 'redundancy'.
Capt. Ramsey
I know about redundancy, Mr. Hunter.
Hunter All I'm saying...
Hunter [Ramsey walks off. Hunter follows him and lowers his voice.]
All I'm saying Captain, is that we have backup. Now it's our duty, not to launch until we can confirm.
Capt. Ramsay
You're presuming we have other submarines out there, ready to launch. Well as Captain, I must assume our submarines could've been taken out by other Akulas. We can play these games all night Mr. Hunter, but ah, I don't have the luxury of your presumptions.
Hunter Sir...
Capt. Ramsey
Mr. Hunter, we have rules that are not open to interpretation, personal intuition, gut feelings, hairs on the back of your neck, little devils or angels sitting on your shoulder. We're all very well aware of what our orders are and what those orders mean. They come down from our Commander in Chief. They contain no ambiguity.
Hunter Captain...
Capt. Ramsey
Mr. Hunter: I've made a decision. I'm Captain of this boat. NOW SHUT THE **** UP!
Hunter Oh no you won't, sir.
Hunter Captain Ramsey, under operating procedures governing the release of nuclear weapons we cannot launch our missiles unless both you, and I agree.
Hunter This is not a formality sir, this is expressly why your command must be repeated. It requires my assent, I do not give it and furthermore, if you continue upon this course, and insist upon this launch without confirming this message first...
[shouting over Hunter]
Son of a bitch... As commanding officer of the U.S.S Alabama I order you to place the XO under arrest under charges of mutiny.
Hunter I will act, backed by the rules of precedence...
[shouting at the Chief of the Boat, over Hunter]
I say again, as commanding officer of the U.S.S Alabama, I order you...
Hunter -authority in command, regulations number 815, to relieve you of command, Captain.
-to place the XO under arrest, under charges of mutiny!
Captain, please, the XO is right. We can't launch unless he concurs.
[reading EAM]
"To the U.S.S. Alabama: Rebel-controlled missiles being fuelled. Launch codes compromised, dissidents threaten to launch at continental United States, set DefCon 2. Immediately launch ten Trident missile sorties." They're FUELING THEIR MISSILES! We don't have time to **** around!
Hunter Sir, I think you need time to think this over.
I DON'T HAVE TO THINK THIS OVER!
Hunter Captain, I relieve you of your command of this ship. COB, escort the Captain to his state room, I'm assuming command.
You're not assuming anything!
Hunter CHIEF OF THE BOAT, Captain Ramsey is under arrest -- lock him in his stateroom!
Captain, please...
Hunter NOW, COB!
Hunter Chief of the Boat.
Sir?
Hunter Thank you, COB.
Thank you? **** you! Get it straight Mr. Hunter, I'm not on your side. Now you could be wrong! But wrong or right, the Captain can't just replace you at will. That was completely improper! And that's why I did what I did. By the book.
Hunter I thank you anyway.
Hunter [Hunter asks about the radio repair.]
How long's it gonna take?
Vossler I don't know, sir.
Hunter You know what's going on here?
Vossler Yes sir.
Hunter No, I don't think you do. Let me explain it to you. If we launch, and we're wrong, what's left of Russia is gonna launch at us. There will be a nuclear holocaust beyond imagination, now it's all about knowing, Mister ... Vossler. We have to know whether our order to launch has been recalled or not. The only way we're gonna know, is if you fix that radio, you understand?
Hunter': You ever watch Star Trek?
Vossler St- yeah, Star...
Hunter Star Trek! The USS Enterprise? All right, now you remember when the Klingons were gonna blow up the Enterprise and Captain Kirk calls down to Scotty he says "Scotty, I gotta have more power-"
Vossler He needs more, more warp speed, yeah.
Hunter Warp speed, exactly. Now I'm Captain Kirk, you're Scotty, I need more power. I'm telling you if you do not get this radio up, a billion people are gonna die; now it's all up to you, I know it's a shitty deal but you got it, can you handle it?
Hunter [Vossler is silent.]
Scotty?
Vossler Aye, Captain.
Hunter Look, it wasn't a mutiny, I did everything by the book.
It's not about the book. If the Russians are gonna launch and we sit here and do nothing... who's gonna stop 'em? Half of me's glad the Captain came back.
. . .
Hunter What if Radchenko surrendered and it's over, huh? We launch. They see us, and they launch. Our birds pass each other in the air. Boom. What have you got?
Nuclear war.
Hunter Nuclear holocaust.
Speaking of horses did you ever see those Lipizzaner stallions.
Hunter What?
From Portugal. The Lipizzaner stallions. The most highly trained horses in the world. They're all white?
Hunter Yes, sir.
"Yes, sir" you're aware they're all white or "Yes, sir" you've seen them?
Hunter Yes, sir I've seen them. Yes, sir I was aware that they're are all white. They are not from Portugal; they're from Spain and at birth, they're not white; they're black. Sir.
I didn't know that. But they are from Portugal. [Chuckling] Some of the things they do, uh, defy belief. Their training program is simplicity itself. You just stick a cattle prod up their ass and you can get a horse to deal cards. [Chuckles] Simple matter of voltage.
God help you if you're wrong.
Hunter If I'm wrong, then we're at war. God help us all.
[reading Hunter's file]
Annapolis. Five patrols on fast attacks. Two on boomers; one as X.O.
[Ramsey glances to Hunter for a beat and continues to read]
Hmm. A year at...[looks to Hunter, impressed] Excuse me. Harvard? [closes Hunter's file] I talked to your former C.O. He tells me he tried to adopt you. As you no doubt heard, my X.O. Has appendicitis. He's the best I ever had. I need a good man to fill his spot. Your name was at the top of the list.
Hunter Well, that's good to know, sir.
[beat]
It was a short list. Your interests, Mr. Hunter. What do you like to do? Do you, uh...Do you paint, play ball, play an instrument, ride motorcycles, what?
Hunter I ride horses.
Horses. What's the best horse you ever rode?
Hunter Arabian, sir.
An Arabian? That's a powerful animal.
Hunter Yes.
Hunter [Ramsey chuckles]
You ever ridden one?
Me? Are you kidding? Nah, I couldn't handle an Arabian. Nah, just give me an old paint. Yeah, horses are fascinating animals. Dumb as fence posts but very intuitive. In that way, they're not too different from high school girls. They might not have a brain in their head but they do know all the boys want to **** 'em.
[Hunter chuckles]
Don't have to be able to read Ulysses to know where they're comin' from.
Hunter No, sir.
[Hunter notices a dog barking close to him] [referring to the dog]
He approves of you. Jack Russells. Smartest dogs alive. Name's Bear. Goes everyplace with me. Well, welcome aboard the Alabama, son. [extends his hand] Do me proud.
Hunter [shakes]
I will, sir.
Think it was a mistake, Mr. Hunter?
Hunter Sir?
Using the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hunter Well, if I thought that, sir, I wouldn't be here.
Interesting way you put that.
Hunter How'd I put it, sir?
Very carefully. [Chuckles]
[Men laughing]
You do qualify your remarks. If someone asked me if we should bomb Japan, a simple "Yes. By all means sir, drop that ****er, twice!"
[Men laughing]
I don't mean to suggest that you're indecisive, Mr. Hunter. Not at all. Just, uh... complicated. 'Course, that's the way the Navy wants you. Me, they wanted simple.
Hunter Well, you certainly fooled them, sir.
[chuckles]
Be careful there, Mr. Hunter. It's all I've got to rely on, being a simple-minded son of a bitch. Rickover gave me my command, a checklist, a target and a button to push. All I gotta know is how to push it, they tell me when. They seem to want you to know why.
Hunter I would hope they'd want us all to know why, sir.
At the Naval War College it was metallurgy and nuclear reactors, not 19th-century philosophy. "War is a continuation of politics by other means." Von Clausewitz.
Hunter I think, sir, that what he was actually trying to say was a little more -
Complicated?
Hunter [Men laughing]
Yes, the purpose of war is to serve a political end, but the true nature of war is to serve itself.
[Laughing]
I'm very impressed. In other words, the sailor most likely to win the war is the one most willing to part company with the politicians and ignore everything except the destruction of the enemy. You'd agree with that.
Hunter I'd agree that, um, that's what Clausewitz was trying to say.
But you wouldn't agree with it?
Hunter No, sir, I do not. No, I just think that in the nuclear world, the true enemy can't be destroyed.
[Men look to one another as Ramsey fall silent] [Chuckling, tapping glass]
Attention on deck. Von Clausewitz will now tell us exactly who the real enemy is. [Gestures to Hunter] Von?
Hunter [Men laughing]
In my humble opinion... in the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself.
Hunter [Following the rebel Russian submarine's attack, which damaged the Alabamas communications equipment]
Captain? Got the EAM.
Hunter [Ramsey sees the EAM message which is shown incomplete]
What do you think?
I think there's nothing on this.
Hunter Yes, sir. It, uh, got cut off during the attack.
Then it's meaningless.
Hunter Sir, this is an EAM pertaining to nuclear missiles.
No, Mr. Hunter, that's a message fragment.
Hunter Because it got cut off during the attack, sir. The message could mean anything. It could be a message to abort. It could be a message--
Could be a fake Russian transmission.
Hunter Which is exactly why we need to confirm it, sir. All I'm asking for is the time we need to get back on line.
Calm down, Mr. Hunter.
Hunter I am calm.
You don't appear to be calm.
Weapons
Conn/Weapons: Missile systems ready to launch in four minutes.
Step aside, seaman.
Seaman
Yes, sir.
[Faint Radio Transmission]
We have orders in hand, and those orders are to make a preemptive launch. Every second that we lose increases the chances, that by the time our missiles arrive, their silos could be empty, 'cause they've flown their birds and struck us first.
Hunter Yes, sir.
You know as well as I do that any launch order received without authentication is no order at all.
Hunter Captain... National Mili…
[continues to talk over Hunter]
That's our #1 rule. That rule is the basis for the scenario we've trained on time and time again.
Hunter Yes, sir.
It's a rule we follow without exception.
Hunter Captain, National Military Command Center knows what sector we're in. They have satellites looking down on us to see if our birds are aloft. And if they're not, then they give our orders to somebody else. That's why we maintain more than one sub. It's what they call "redundancy."
I know about redundancy, Mr. Hunter. [walks off]
Hunter All I'm saying...
Hunter [Crew stares at Hunter before he meets with Ramsey again, speaking discreetly]
All I'm saying, Captain, is that we have backup. Now, it's our duty not to launch until we can confirm.
You're presuming that we have other submarines out there ready to launch. But as captain, I must assume that our submarines could have been taken out by other Akulas. We can play these games all night, Mr. Hunter, but I don't have the luxury of your presumptions.
Hunter Sir...
Mr. Hunter, we have rules that are not open to interpretation, personal intuition, gut feelings, hairs on the back of your neck, little devils or angels sitting on your shoulders.
Hunter Captain...
We're all very well aware of what our orders are and what those orders mean. They come down from our Commander-in-Chief. They contain no ambiguity.
Hunter Captain, sir...
Mr. Hunter, I've made the decision. I'm captain of this boat. Now shut the **** up! Damn. [over the intercom] Weapons/Conn: Shift targeting to target package SLBM 64741/2. This is the Captain.
Hunter [Ramsey gives the intercom to Hunter]
...Captain, I cannot concur.
Repeat my command.
Hunter Sir, we don't know what this means. Our target package could have changed.
You repeat this order or I'll find somebody who will!
Hunter [stares at Ramsey]
Hell no, you won't, sir.
You're relieved of your position. COB, remove Mr. Hunter from the control room. Get Lieutenant Zimmer in here now!
Hunter No, sir, I do not concur and I do not recognize your authority to relieve me on the command under Navy regulations.
COB, arrest this man and get him out!
Hunter Captain Ramsey, under operating procedures governing the release of nuclear weapons we cannot launch our missiles unless both you, and I agree.
Hunter Now this is not a formality, sir! This is expressly why your command must be repeated! It requires my assent, I do not give it! And furthermore, if you continue upon this course, and insist upon this launch without confirming this message first...
[shouting over Hunter]
Son of a bitch... As commanding officer of the USS Alabama I order you to place the XO under arrest under charges of mutiny!
Hunter I will be forced, backed by the rules of precedents...
[shouting at the Chief of the Boat, over Hunter]
I say again, as commanding officer of the USS Alabama, I order you...
Hunter -authority and command, regulation 08150H6 of the Navy regulations, to relieve you of command, Captain!
-to place the XO under arrest, under charges of mutiny! [Silence all round] COB!
Captain, please, the XO is right. We can't launch unless he concurs.
[reading EAM]
"To the USS Alabama: Rebel-controlled missiles being fuelled. Launch codes compromised, dissidents threaten to launch at continental United States, set DEFCON 2. Immediately launch ten Trident missile sorties." They're FUELING THEIR MISSILES! We don't have time to **** around!
Hunter Sir, I think you need time to think this over.
I DON'T HAVE TO THINK THIS OVER!
Hunter Captain, I relieve you of your command of this ship. COB, escort the Captain off the bridge, I'm assuming command.
You're not assuming anything!
Hunter CHIEF OF THE BOAT, Captain Ramsey is under arrest — lock him in his stateroom!
Captain, please...
Hunter NOW, COB!
Aye, sir. Mitchell, Walker, take the Captain below.
[Ramsey goes to leave, then turns and throws his missile key to Hunter]
You're out of your league, Hunter. You're not ready to make difficult decisions yet.
Rear Admiral Anderson [Captain Ramsey and Lt Cdr Hunter face the US Navy board of inquiry]
Stand there, Lieutenant Commander Hunter, this won't take long. This panel has convened in order to investigate the events subsequent to the setting of condition 1SQ for strategic missile launch aboard the USS Alabama on 1 November. Now based on the testimony of personnel onboard the Alabama and in no small measure to that of the senior officer, Captain Ramsey, I'm prepared to make my recommendations to SUBPAC.
LCdr Hunter
Without my testimony, sir?
Anderson You have a problem with that?
Hunter [beat]
I might, sir.
Anderson I have known Captain Ramsey for almost 30 years. We've served together on more than a few occasions. If he is lying, this will be the first I've heard of it.
Hunter Yes, sir.
Anderson My primary concern here is the breakdown in the system. In this instance, the system failed because the two senior officers did not work to resolve their differences while preserving the chain of command. Now you may have been proven right Mr. Hunter, but in so far as the letter of the law is concerned, you were both right - and you were also both wrong. This is the dilemma that will occupy this panel, this Navy, and this country's armed forces as a whole long after you leave this room. Off the record, you've both created one hell of a mess. A mutiny aboard a United States nuclear submarine. Violation of nuclear launch protocol. For the record, it is the conclusion of this panel that your actions aboard the Alabama were consistent with the best traditions of the Navy and in the interests of the United States. As such, the recommendations of this panel will be: to accept, in a manner reflective of his long and dedicated service to his country, Captain Ramsey's request for early retirement from active duty; and based in no small part on Captain Ramsey's recommendation, that Lieutenant Commander Hunter be given his next command at the earliest possible convenience. Unless of course, you wish to challenge these recommendations.
Hunter No, sir.
Anderson Captain Ramsey?
Anderson [beat]
Dismissed.
