Cmdr. Ferraday Quotes in Ice Station Zebra (1968)

Cmdr. Ferraday: There's one thing that cannot happen on board a submarine by accident... is both ends of a torpedo tube open to the sea at the same time!

David Jones: You cross-connect the hydraulic manifold to the outside door mechanism so that the indicator reads shut when the door is actually open. The same sort of electrical cross on these two panels, and the open position reads green when it should flash red. Then you plug up the inlet to the test cock with chewing gum, sealing wax, anything... just so that it shows a dribble. And then you open the tube, and Good Night.

Cmdr. Ferraday: It wasn't sealing wax. It wasn't chewing gum. It was epoxy glue. And all of a sudden you know a whole damn lot about submarines.

David Jones: I know how to wreck them, and I know how to lie, steal, kidnap, counterfeit, suborn and kill. That's my job. I do it with great pride.

David Jones: ...and all of a sudden, you know a whole damn lot about my business!

Cmdr. Ferraday: We don't believe in going on a mission totally blindfolded.

Boris Vaslov: [looking into the reactor] Oh... it seems almost benevolent.

Cmdr. Ferraday: In that state, yes. Contained, controlled. But it is nuclear fission... and it hates being confined even more than you do.

David Jones: May I ask, Captain, when we expect to reach the ice barrier?

Cmdr. Ferraday: Yes, you may ask.

Cmdr. Ferraday: We operate on a first-name basis. My first name is Captain.

Cmdr. Ferraday: [after reading the name of the person who authorized the mission] All right sir, I'm impressed. Not enlightened - but impressed.

Cmdr. Ferraday: I'm in command of this submarine, and I am not sticking another torpedo up that spout...

1st Lt. Russell Walker: It's just... none of us have ever been aboard a submarine before.

Cmdr. Ferraday: Rest easy. I have.

Cmdr. Ferraday: [During uncontrolled descent from flooding incident] She's slowing faster!