Designated Survivor (TV Series)

Two Ships (2017)

Kiefer Sutherland: Tom Kirkman

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Quotes 

• Tom Kirkman : Who on board the ship would have known about the surveillance activities?

  Admiral Chernow : The captain, the XO, the operations officer.

  Tom Kirkman : But not a junior lieutenant?

  Admiral Chernow : Oh, no, sir.

  Aaron Shore : [entering]  The Saudi ambassador says Kunami's willing to allow the rescue of the Verona crew in exchange with the lifting of the prohibition on its uranium program.

  Tom Kirkman : Well, now we know what they're willing to trade for. Our ship for a potential weapons program. Not acceptable.

• Will Griffin : The Voyage Data Recorder?

  Tom Kirkman : Yes, Captain.

  Will Griffin : Can I ask why it's so important, sir?

  Tom Kirkman : I'm afraid not, but we need you to destroy it.

  Will Griffin : That's gonna be difficult, sir. The VDR is located in the Combat Information Center, which is underwater.

  Tom Kirkman : Come again, Captain?

  Will Griffin : The hull was more compromised than we thought. We sprung a leak on the starboard side. Uh, the bilge pumps are working fine, but I had to seal off a couple of compartments to reduce the stress.

  Tom Kirkman : Good work. Is there any way to access the CIC?

  Will Griffin : Not without a diver, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Is that something you would feel comfortable asking one of your men to do?

  Will Griffin : No, sir. Too dangerous. I'll do it myself.

  Tom Kirkman : Right answer, but we can't risk it.

  Will Griffin : Mr. President...

  Tom Kirkman : Stand pat, Captain. That's an order.

• Aaron Shore : The USS Verona, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, collided with a sanitation barge off the coast of Kunami.

  Tom Kirkman : What was one of our warships doing in enemy waters?

  Aaron Shore : It was en route to Bahrain for joint military exercises with the CMF. A storm disabled its radar and nav systems. She drifted off course.

  Tom Kirkman : So let me get this straight. A $6 billion warship's response to inclement weather is to run into a floating garbage truck? You know what I think?

  Aaron Shore : Yeah. That for $6 billion, the thing should be able to levitate.

  Tom Kirkman : Damn right.

• Tom Kirkman : Anything from the Kunami ambassador?

  Emily Rhodes : He put out a statement accusing us of a hostile incursion into their territorial waters.

  Tom Kirkman : For what, running into a hundred thousand tons of their trash?

  Emily Rhodes : He says that was divine providence. He's consulting with the emir.

  Tom Kirkman : Casualties?

  Admiral Chernow : Sixteen dead. Dozens injured, sir. Well, the Verona's incapacitated. We'll have to tow her out. But we will need Kunami's cooperation.

  Aaron Shore : Well, we may need a show of force to get that. We're talking about a renegade regime that's been under military and economic sanctions for over a decade.

  Tom Kirkman : Where is our closest fleet?

  Admiral Chernow : Well, the best case, the Fifth is eight hours out. Kunami we can handle, but they're not the only problem, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Right. Other hostile nations in the Middle East are watching. Son of a bitch. This can go global quickly.

  Admiral Chernow : The problem is the Verona is loaded with technology we have to keep out of Kunami's hands.

  Tom Kirkman : First and foremost, we've got 300 Americans stranded in hostile waters, many of them injured. We need to bring 'em home. Admiral, deploy the Fifth.

• Tom Kirkman : I want to talk to the captain of the Verona.

  Admiral Chernow : Well, there is no captain, sir. The senior command was meeting in his quarters, and then swept out to sea when the hull was breached.

  Tom Kirkman : My god.

  [regaining his composure] 

  Tom Kirkman : Get the senior officer in charge.

• Will Griffin : Mr. President.

  Tom Kirkman : At ease, sailor. What's your name?

  Will Griffin : Lieutenant Will Griffin, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : How's the ship doing?

  Will Griffin : The damage is pretty significant, Mr. President.

  Tom Kirkman : Can she move at all?

  Will Griffin : No, sir. Negative. Engines are down. Right now, it's about waiting for help and taking care of our wounded. We lost a lot of good people, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : I know. Lucky for us, we still have one in charge.

  Will Griffin : Sir?

  Tom Kirkman : I was reading your file. Third in your class at Annapolis, Navy Commendation Medals, three Navy Achievement Medals, and a NATO Medal. Impressive, Captain.

  Will Griffin : It's Lieutenant, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : If I'm gonna ask you to lead your crew out of there, you're gonna do it with the proper rank.

  Will Griffin : Sir, I... I don't know. I... I only was commissioned three years ago. Commanding a ship, I don't...

  Tom Kirkman : I wasn't ready for my battlefield promotion, either. Circumstances make the man.

• Tom Kirkman : I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm a design nerd. I know all about your vessel.

  Will Griffin : You sail, sir?

  Tom Kirkman : It's not the water that I love. It's the ships. And yours is a beauty. Double-spaced steel armor, Kevlar spall liners, displaces 8,300 tons.

  Will Griffin : Next generation's gonna be made out of carbon nanotubes. The future.

  Tom Kirkman : Led there by men like you. Take care of your crew, Captain. We're coming to get you.

  Will Griffin : Yes, sir.

• Tom Kirkman : Admiral, what's the update?

  Admiral Chernow : That's Kunami's fleet. Five ships and counting.

  Tom Kirkman : Tell me about the formation.

  Admiral Chernow : It's a classic blockade. Our ships won't be able to get anywhere near the Verona without running it.

  Emily Rhodes : And risking a war.

  Aaron Shore : It doesn't make sense that the emirate would want to do that.

  Tom Kirkman : What they want is to make us sweat. Our ship is at the mercy of a regime that is desperate to prove its own legitimacy to its people. And we have a crew that expects us to rescue them when apparently there's no easy way to do that. Admiral, contact Captain Griffin. We need to let him know that we haven't abandoned him.

• Will Griffin : Radar's got their ships, sir. Three clicks off our starboard bow.

  Tom Kirkman : They're just saber-rattling, son. They're not gonna fire on you.

  Will Griffin : Well, we can defend ourselves. We got Tomahawks, harpoons...

  Tom Kirkman : What about food?

  Will Griffin : Uh, refrigeration's out, galley's flooded. Mostly canned goods are left.

  Tom Kirkman : Unfortunately, I've had the displeasure of eating military rations. Do yourself a favor. Toss the food, eat the cans.

  Will Griffin : You really are a Navy buff, sir.

• Aaron Shore : Kunami's just officially cut all diplomatic ties.

  Lyor Boone : They're posturing, sir. Time is on their side.

  Tom Kirkman : Because the casualties are on ours. If they catch us blinking first, they'll have us over a barrel.

  Lyor Boone : Oh, no. I-I wouldn't count on them blinking at all, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Why not?

  Lyor Boone : Because Kunami's an unstable regime. If the emir lets an American fleet tow the Verona out while he sits on his hands, he may as well send out invitations to his own coup.

  Tom Kirkman : Then we're gonna have to find a concession we can live with.

  Aaron Shore : I'll have Secretary Moss ask Cairo to open a back channel with the emir, find out what he really wants.

• Kendra Daynes : I had my off-the-record with Director Forstell today.

  Tom Kirkman : Did you ask him about the status of the investigation into my mother-in-law?

  Kendra Daynes : Yes, sir. He stressed the importance of an independent FBI, then showed me the door.

  Tom Kirkman : Did he tell you it was inappropriate to have a discussion about an ongoing investigation?

  Kendra Daynes : No, sir. He refused to address the subject.

  Tom Kirkman : Trust me, he addressed it. Now we know it's an ongoing investigation.

• Kendra Daynes : He's still digging, even though we managed to quash your mother-in-law's subpoena.

  Tom Kirkman : In all fairness, he doesn't really have a choice.

  Kendra Daynes : Sir?

  Tom Kirkman : After the bombing, there was a vacancy at the head of the FBI. Forstell was the obvious choice; impeccable record, impeccable integrity.

  Kendra Daynes : So in order to be seen as impartial, he has to pursue this.

  Tom Kirkman : To the ends of the earth.

  Kendra Daynes : Sir, I may be able to help here if you give me some latitude.

  Tom Kirkman : What do you need?

  Kendra Daynes : Unfettered access to your mother-in-law.

  Tom Kirkman : Eva didn't sign up for any of this. She won't handle it well. I'm not comfortable with that.

  Kendra Daynes : I understand. But the longer this drags on, the more involved she's going to become.

• Ambassador Darzi : The USS Verona, which has been crippled by an act of God, was in fact sent by America to spy on our peace-loving nation. As an instrument of such treachery, it is now the property of the Kunami people.

  Aaron Shore : [watching on TV]  Well, I guess we know what Kunami wants.

  Tom Kirkman : Yes. Our ship.

• Tom Kirkman : Admiral, I need you to tell me: was the Verona engaged in espionage?

  Admiral Chernow : In addition to its advanced weaponry, the Verona has a state of the art surveillance system, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : What were we monitoring?

  Admiral Chernow : Kunami's compliance with the sanctions.

  Tom Kirkman : Admiral, is there anything on the Verona that would confirm the emirate's allegations?

  Admiral Chernow : Unfortunately, sir, there is. The ship's Voyage Data Recorder tracks its movements to the second. Now, if the emirate coordinates the Verona's geo-locations with the weather, they can prove we were in their waters before the monsoon hit.

  Emily Rhodes : And our plausible deniability goes out the window.

• Tom Kirkman : Admiral, honestly, how far out is the Fifth Fleet?

  Admiral Chernow : Three hours. The choppy water's slowing the fleet down. We can have a strike package there in minutes.

  Emily Rhodes : Sir, there's an optics difference between using force to rescue a ship on a peaceable mission and one that was spying.

  Tom Kirkman : Right now, I don't care about the optics. I care about the crew.

  Aaron Shore : Well, sir, I have to advise you if we start launching missiles at their ships, the Verona's a sitting duck.

  Emily Rhodes : And the clock is ticking. We don't want force to be our primary option. We need to keep moving on the diplomatic front.

  Tom Kirkman : You're right. I want both of you to reach out to the Foreign Relations Committee. See how much room we've got to maneuver.

  Emily Rhodes , Aaron Shore : Yes, sir.

• Senator Ray Damone : You can't be serious.

  Aaron Shore : We're not talking about the elimination of sanctions, Senator. We're talking about loosening them.

  Emily Rhodes : Our proposal allows only for a civilian-enrichment program.

  Aaron Shore : And a strict monitoring regime would be in place.

  Senator Cowling : A regime whose success will depend on Hassan's agreement to abide by the very norms he's shown nothing but contempt for.

  Senator Ray Damone : But you're asking us to believe he's turned over a new leaf.

  Tom Kirkman : [entering]  No, Senator. We're asking you to help us bring the Verona home; 300 of our sailors, many of them wounded, none of whom deserve to be abandoned.

• Tom Kirkman : Kunami is a can that can be kicked down the road. The Verona's a can that could sink.

  Senator Cowling : We'll need to take this before the whole Foreign Relations Committee.

  Tom Kirkman : We don't have that kind of time.

  Senator Ray Damone : We understand. We'll move fast.

  Tom Kirkman : Please do. Thank you.

  [he leaves, and Lyor joins him] 

  Lyor Boone : So, "take it before the whole committee", "move fast". That's Congressional code for "duck and cover".

  Tom Kirkman : Which means we're not gonna be able to negotiate the crew to safety.

• Will Griffin : The primary bilge pumps have failed, sir. The auxiliary pumps are failing. We're taking on water faster than we can get rid of it.

  Tom Kirkman : How much time do you think you have?

  Will Griffin : Five, six hours 'till she submerges. Sir, I want you to know, the crew is not afraid. Non sibi sed patriae.

  Tom Kirkman : "Not for self, but for country." The Navy motto.

  Will Griffin : Yes, sir. It's a privilege to serve. A privilege every sailor would gladly die for.

  Tom Kirkman : That privilege will not require that sacrifice, Captain. Not today.

• Aaron Shore : Mr. President, Senator Cowling just got back to me. Congress won't allow loosening the sanctions. She's urging the administration to find a diplomatic solution.

  Tom Kirkman : It doesn't help us now, but she's right. We need to find another way.

  Lyor Boone : Sir, if I were advising the emir, I'd say he's playing it perfectly; castigating America for violating his country's sovereignty.

  Emily Rhodes : Knowing that we can't use force without looking like we've wildly overreacted to a problem they think we've created.

  Tom Kirkman : We didn't create a monsoon out at sea.

  Lyor Boone : He's got wiggle room, sir. We don't. This crisis is tailor-made to enhance his prestige.

  Tom Kirkman : Admiral, do we have enough data to re-create the Verona's collision?

  Admiral Chernow : Yes, sir. We'll get right on it.

• Aaron Shore : You're watching a re-creation of the collision, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Based on what?

  Admiral Chernow : Enhanced satellite imagery and data from the ship's AIS. The Verona was traveling 160 degrees southeast at roughly fifteen knots. The barge was heading northeast at twelve knots, four points off the port quarter.

  Emily Rhodes : If everyone held course, it would've been a near-miss.

  Admiral Chernow : The barge suddenly veered to four points off the starboard bow and increased its speed to eighteen knots.

  Tom Kirkman : That proves that the barge ran into our ship on purpose.

  Admiral Chernow : Well, given the barge's sudden change in speed and direction, that would be my conclusion, Mr. President.

  Aaron Shore : Ambassador Salini's on his way to discuss sanctions.

  Tom Kirkman : We'll be discussing something else.

• Ambassador Darzi : This proves nothing.

  Tom Kirkman : It proves that your garbage barge deliberately rammed our ship.

  Ambassador Darzi : No. It was dark. Bad weather. Maybe the barge's radar malfunctioned, like the Verona's. Maybe it was tacking to avoid a wave.

  Tom Kirkman : Or maybe the captain was acting at the behest of your government.

  Ambassador Darzi : Here is the one thing that we know for sure. Your ship was in our waters, violating our sovereignty.

  Emily Rhodes : Sir, we've been over this.

  Ambassador Darzi : Yes, we have. And I was summoned to discuss sanctions.

  Tom Kirkman : The sanctions remain.

  Ambassador Darzi : You have turned my country into a pariah. The people don't have enough for food.

  Tom Kirkman : Because the emir insists on spending your nation's capital on weapons.

  Ambassador Darzi : How we dispense our treasury is our choice. So is how we deal with American aggression. If you violate our sovereignty again, we will consider it a declaration of war.

• Aaron Shore : Kunami can't afford to go to war with us, sir.

  Lyor Boone : Which is why they'll drag in other countries. You know, we fire on them, they fire on our client states; Israel, Turkey.

  Tom Kirkman : Pulling in Syria and Iran, forcing us to negotiate.

  Emily Rhodes : And the Verona and its crew will be lost.

• Admiral Chernow : Mr. President, the Fifth Fleet is in place and awaiting instructions, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Thank you, Admiral. Have them deploy a rescue vessel. Fly a flag at half-mast. Aaron, see if you can catch the ambassador. Tell him they can have our ship. We're bringing our people home.

  Admiral Chernow : Mr. President, the emirate will get our technology, and the VDR will confirm we were spying. Respectfully, sir, it will be a national humiliation.

  Tom Kirkman : Respectfully, Admiral, our personnel is more important.

  Admiral Chernow : Well, I'd agree, sir, if we could predict how Kunami will respond. There's no way to know what the emir will do if you call his bluff.

  Tom Kirkman : Well, we're gonna find out soon enough because we're gonna run the blockade. Admiral... if they engage, sink every ship they've got.

• Tom Kirkman : Admiral, do you want to explain to me how the Wyckoff forgot Captain Griffin?

  Admiral Chernow : They didn't forget him, sir. He refused to abandon ship.

• Tom Kirkman : Captain, you've caused quite an uproar.

  Will Griffin : I know, sir. I'm sorry.

  Tom Kirkman : Kunami has agreed to allow the Wyckoff to circle back, ferry you out.

  Will Griffin : I'm not going, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Captain, this isn't the time to argue. I'm no sailor, but even I can see that the ship is sinking faster than we had anticipated.

  Will Griffin : I know, sir. I opened the hatches and the torpedo tubes.

  Tom Kirkman : Why the hell would you do that?

• Will Griffin : I figured out why you want the VDR, sir. If Kunami gets their hands on it, they'll figure it out, as well.

  Tom Kirkman : Captain, that's not your concern.

  Will Griffin : Yes, sir, it is. I swore an oath to protect my country and my crew. My crew is safe. My country is not.

  Tom Kirkman : You flooded the boat. You've done your duty.

  Will Griffin : No, sir. Kunami will salvage the vessel. They'll get the VDR. I initiated the emergency scuttle sequence, but I need to be here to make sure it works. The detonators are on a timer.

  Tom Kirkman : [to his staff]  Everyone out. Give me the room now, please.

• Tom Kirkman : Son, where are you from?

  Will Griffin : Billings, Montana, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Billings, Montana. Beautiful country, isn't it?

  Will Griffin : Yes, sir. It is.

  Tom Kirkman : Your family there?

  Will Griffin : Yes, sir. Mom, two sisters.

  Tom Kirkman : You got a girl?

  Will Griffin : Sir?

  Tom Kirkman : A girlfriend, Captain.

  Will Griffin : Yes, sir.

  Tom Kirkman : Son, your whole life is in front of you; things you can't even imagine. Beautiful, wonderful things; things to live for. I need you to trust me. We will handle this. Your story's not supposed to end here. You need to come home. Let me bring you home.

  Will Griffin : I'm sorry, sir. It's been an honor. Verona out.

• Mike Ritter : Sir, can I ask the name of the man who went down on the Verona?

  Tom Kirkman : Why do you want to know, Mike?

  Mike Ritter : Because he was a hero, and I want to tell my kids about him.

  Tom Kirkman : You can tell them he was the captain. Captain Will Griffin.