- Dr. Benjamin 'Ben' Song: [to a guard] If I asked you a really dumb question, would that distract you?
- Addison Augustine: He called you "Ops" so I'm guessing you're the operations officer and you're on a battleship so, you know, that narrows it down a lot.
- Captain Bill Drake: Light her up with our fire control radar.
- Addison Augustine: Ben, training the ship's fire control radar on a vessel is considered hostile. The Chinese could think they're under attack.
- Addison Augustine: The first Chinese mine was the M1, which was actually a model of Soviet design. By the 1980s, Chinese minesweepers were being made with low-resonant steel. To be resistant to sonar.
- Herbert 'Magic' Williams: The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
- Jenn Chu: Martin Luther King.
- Dr. Benjamin 'Ben' Song: Sir, you're starting a war.
- Captain Bill Drake: You're a hero tonight, Ops, but forget yourself again and you'll be in the brig. Is that clear?
- Addison Augustine: Ben, say, "Yes, sir," and apologize.
- Dr. Benjamin 'Ben' Song: Yes, Captain. Sorry, sir.
- Captain Bill Drake: All hands, this is the captain. I want to congratulate you on another outstanding performance. Our ship is about to be the centerpiece of joint exercises between our Navy, the South Koreans, and the Australians. It's a great honor. But I want you to remember the bigger picture: we are in the East China Sea, the most dangerous waters on Earth.And the Chinese think that they are the world's next great superpower. I happen to disagree... Men, there is no such thing as peace, only pauses between wars.And in those pauses, hundreds of skirmishes that never make the papers.We are the tip of the spear. We protect the greatest nation in the history of history. Let that honor sink in. Let that honor be your guide.
- Herbert 'Magic' Williams: A mine?You're saying a mine sunk the "Tampa."
- Liu Wei: In '89, our leadership knew that American submarines were testing the limits of Chinese territorial waters. We laid mines all along the coast. Figuring if one of our subs hit a mine, it would be forced to surface and America would be forced to admit they violated Chinese waters. We'd hold your crew for a few weeks as a show of outrage But really we would be tearing your submarine apart and stealing all the technology. In fairness, it's a good plan. Except we didn't account for the weather. One bad storm, and over 50 mines broke free and drifted out into the open ocean directly towards your war games. One of those mines sank the "Tampa." And if the currents had been stronger, they would have drifted toward your fleet and started World War III. We got lucky in '89, Magic. Let's hope that never happens again.
- Addison Augustine: But first you need to stop talking.
- [Crewmen salutes and addresses Ben as Commander]
- Addison Augustine: You're in the Navy. You can't be seen conversing with yourself. Okay, well, the good news is that you're the operations officer, which means not only are you third in command, but the entire ship is your domain. In fact, the most conspicuous thing you can do... Besides talking to me... Is stay in one spot for too long. So let's walk and I will tell you why you're here.