Tigerfish 01

The first part of the story is set in the U.S. nuclear attack submarine USS Tigerfish (SSN-509). The Tigerfish is portrayed in the movie by the USS Ronquil, a very well done model (for the scenes under the Arctic ice, and a full scale mockup of the sub's sail poked through the ice at Ice Station Zebra. The Tigerfish is shown as a Skate class sub, rather than the more streamlined, teardrop-shaped vessel, either the contemporaneous Skipjack or Permit design, as described in the novel – no doubt simply because that was the design of the available USS Ronquil used to represent the fictitious Tigerfish during filming. This picture (screencap) is from the movie and shows the Tigerfish under the Polar ice cap.