Presenting the transcription feature, Superman! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman! Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from the planet Krypton, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can leap tall buildings at a single bound, race a speeding bullet to its target, then steal in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth and justice. And now to our story. It begins far out at sea, deep beneath the rolling surface of the water, where a sleek, gray-hulled submarine, modern symbol of America's first line of defense, slips through the murky depths like some giant, sightless creature of the uncharted ocean. Inside the steel hull, the voices of its designer, Charles Grayson, and its commanding officer, Captain Denning, rise above the soft throb of its engine. I'm afraid to take a chance, Mr. Grayson. We're down to 280 now. But, Captain Denning, the purpose of this test run is to prove that she can stand the pressure at 400 feet and better. Why, I'll take my life on it. I know, but there are the lives of my crew to consider. I'll grant they were hand-picked for this test run, but even so, I can't expose them to unnecessary danger. It isn't danger. And even if it were, it isn't unnecessary. Why, ever since the conning tower, the first submersible slipped beneath the surface of the water, every navy in the world has been striving to perfect a ship that could stand the enormous pressure at great depth. You've done that. 280 is good depth. I know, but it's not good enough. Take her down to 350, Captain. Well... It's the only way we'll ever be certain. All right, but there's a prayer on my lips. Diving officer. Speaking, sir. Submerge to 350. I beg your pardon, sir. I said submerge to 350. Yes, sir. Well, that's sad. You won't even notice it, Captain. Almost 12 tons of pressure on every square foot of our hull surface, but it won't make the slightest bit of difference. It's 300 now. Any other submarine would be a twisted mass of wreckage for this time. 320. Don't stop, Captain Denny. She'll go to 400 if you let her. 330. I'm afraid of buckled plates. All stations. Check four and a half for open seams. Report any leakage at once. 340, Captain. Look at the depth gauge. Can you believe your eyes? No, I can't. Wait. We've sprung leaks. Yes? All seams checked, sir. Yes? No leakage. Very good. No leaks? Everything's tight. Then we've done it. We're at 350 feet, leveling off. Captain Denny, do you know what this means? Our country now has a submarine that... What's that? I don't know. We've lost headway. Engine room. Engine room. Engine room reporting. What happened? Why have we stopped? I don't know. But we're not moving. Rev them up to four. Yes, sir. Do you hear that scraping on the hull, Captain? Was that strange? Grayson, we're still not moving. But the motor's running at full speed. What's happened to this ship? I can't understand. I have had enough of this. Diving officer. Drop us at once. We can't, sir. Something's holding us down. What do you mean? I don't know, sir, but we're being held down by something. We can't move in any direction. Grayson. You hear that? We can't go up and we can't move forward or backward. We're trapped. At 350 feet, Grayson. That's scraping on the hull. Listen to it. Like, like Baron James. Listen. All hands at emergency stations. Close battery room bulkhead. Stand by for further orders. Trapped. At 350 feet, the newly designed submarine hangs suspended as though in the grip of some huge sea monster. Unable to move in any direction. Meanwhile, back at the naval base, crowds mill at the office of the squadron commander as the bad news travels like wildfire. How many times do I got to tell you the commander ain't saying nobody? Now, stand back there. Say you. My name's Kent. Daily Planet. I have a special pass. Okay. Now, stand back there. Come on. Everybody, stand back. Commander Lead? Yes? I'm Clark Kent of the Daily Planet. Oh, yes. Glad to know you, Mr. Kent. You're the young man who helped us out about a year ago, aren't you? It really wasn't anything. Well, they seem to think pretty highly of you. That's why you're the one reporter on the inside. You know what's happened, don't you? I think so. Grayson's new submarine is down somewhere off the coast. At a depth of 350 feet. And evidently unharmed. I don't quite understand, Commander. Neither do we, Kent. There's something strange about all this. Something very strange. Captain Denning, commanding the submarine, has reported his ship at 350 feet. But he's not on the bottom of the ocean. The water at that location is 2,000 feet deep. Then it hasn't sunk. No. But it can't move. In any direction. How did you get all this information, if I may ask? The submarine is equipped with a special deep-sea radio sending and receiving set. We've been in contact with it for the last hour. If I'll be talking to Captain Denning in the radio room now, would you like to listen? Yes, I would. All right, just wait. Thank you. Anything new, Collins? Captain Denning signed off, sir, to conserve battery. Try to raise him again. Yes, sir. Calling S2V4. Calling S2V4. Come in, please. You'll have to stand close, Kent. The signal is weak. All right. S2V4 back. Come in. Ask him whether there's been any change. Yes, sir. Captain Denning, has there been any change? It is on the hull. It's a wire and chain. Ask him if the ship is damaged. Is your ship damaged, Captain Denning? No damage. No leaks. Pressure doesn't bother us. We've been waiting for 12 hours. Yes, Captain? Captain Denning. Hello? Hello? What happened? He's off, sir. Raise him. He said they were moving. Did you hear him, Kent? Yes, but he said something was dragging them. Calling S2V4. Calling S2V4. Come in, please. He did say something was dragging them. What could he mean? Calling S2V4. S2V4. Come in, please. I don't like the left of this, Kent. It doesn't make sense. It is rather strange. Do you know their location, Commander? Wait. Well, Colin? Kent Rageons, sir. Keep trying. Yes, sir. Come on, Kent. Calling S2V4. S2V4. You say you know their location, Commander? Yes, that was the first thing Denning gave us. Two of our salvage boats are on the way. What good is the location if they're moving or being dragged? We must have misunderstood him, Kent. I'm sure that's what he said. Something is dragging us. What could be dragging a 5,000-ton submarine? Why not even Superman could do that? Oh, yes, he could. But, uh, I mean, I think he could. Commander, would you give me the location of the submarine? What good would it do you? I don't suppose it would do me much good, but... Ted, I'm going to try something that's never been done before. I'm going to take another submarine down to look for them. But the Grayson ship is the only one that can dive safely beyond 250 feet. Well, that's deep enough. If we pass over them, we can pick them up on the magnetic finder. May I come along, Commander? Well, it isn't customary to carry civilians, but I imagine we can make an exception in your case. Thank you, sir. I'll call and have them prepare one of our fast subs. Uh, submarine basin, quickly, please. Kent, there's more to this than appears on the surface. That submarine... Hello, Commander Lee's taking. Get the S-23 ready for immediate departure. That's right. S-23. That big dial is the depth gauge, Kent. Oh. We're down 150 feet. The more water balance we take on, the faster we sink. What's that hiss of air? Pressure equalizer. The pressure inside the ship must be equal to the pressure outside, or these steel plates would crumple like eggshells. We're at 200 now. We'll level off at 250. How do you level off? There are two rudders at the stern of the ship. We call them planes. They control surfacing and diving when we're under power. Oh. Now, you see, we're leveling off now at 250. Uh-huh. Now, watch this small dial with the red indicator. The moment we pass over anything made of metal, the indicator will tell us how far beneath us the metal is. But how can you be sure it's the submarine? Well, we can't. But the odds are with us. It's ten years of my life to see that indicator suddenly shoot us. Hey, Kent. Something's happened. We're stuck. Oh. Only the motors are going, but we're not moving. Listen, Kent. That's scraping on the hull. Didn't Captain Denning say that... Yes, he said they heard scraping on the hull like iron chains. Driving officer, Commander Lee speaking. What's happened? We can't move, sir. We're caught in something. Can we surface? No, sir. Stop the motors. Have all men stand by at emergency stations. Yes, sir. Kent, the same thing that happened to Denning's ship has happened to us. It's uncanny. It's impossible. I don't understand the noise on the hull. Could we have struck a submerged wreck? How could we? We're 1,700 feet from the bottom of the ocean. Commander, is there an emergency exit from this submarine? Yes, there's a stern escape hatch. You can't use it at this depth, even with a monson lung. A water pressure would crush a man to death. I'm willing to try it. Oh, Kent, you're mad. There's only one thing we can do. We'll leave the disaster buoy. One of the salvage ships will send the diver down. It may be too late by then. What do you mean? Don't you remember Captain Denning's last words? Something is dragging us. Now, look, Kent, I brought you along in defiance of all rules and regulations. This is an emergency, and I'm commander of this submarine. Like the crew, you take orders from me. Naturally, sir, but if I can be of any help... You can, by keeping out of the way. May I look at the escape hatch? No. Stay where you are. Commander Lee speaking. Diving officer reporting, sir. Release the disaster buoy. Yes, sir. Now, Kent, there's no reason for panic. The ship isn't... Kent, where are you? Taking advantage of the few seconds during which Commander Lee was receiving the diving officer's report, Clark Kent has slipped into the stern of the trapped submarine, determined to investigate the strange mystery of the sea as Superman. Will he be able to leave through the escape hatch? And if he does, what will he find in the darkness of the ocean depth? Don't forget. Tune in again for the next thrilling episode with Superman. Superman is a copyrighted feature appearing in Action Comics magazine.
