It is clear that this movie was delayed for some time after it was finished and it's also clear that there was footage left on the cutting room, especially Rosemary Forsyth as Heston's wife who in the final cut is reduced to just a fifteen second scene on the tennis court getting word the sub is down (she had even gone on "Match Game" in March 1977 mentioning she'd just finished doing this film and I doubt that scene at the court represented her entire work). But I really don't see any indication that they actually filmed a Russian subplot in the film unless it took up time before the scenes of the US Navy reaching the Neptune.
Unfortunately, Heston's diary "The Actor's Life" which was published in 1978, cuts off at the end of 1976 while he was filming "Gray Lady Down" and doesn't shed light on what else was filmed but cut. They apparently started filming before Ronny Cox was cast as the Executive Officer (the first shot of production was the tag scene where Stacy Keach welcomes Heston aboard, since that was the only scene in the film Heston had with Keach) and had been earlier trying to get Sidney Poitier. In Heston's "In The Arena" the only time he mentions "Gray Lady Down" is when he talks of how he decided to grow a beard for the role when he learned that submariners at that time were the only ones in the Navy allowed to wear them, and how surprised he was that David Greene just deferred to him so easily on the grounds that as a star Heston could do whatever he wanted to do.
I'd certainly like to know what else was filmed but cut (don't bother reading the novel the film is based on as it has little in common with the film beyond the basic conceit of a sub rammed by a freighter and sinking with crewmen trapped aboard) but so far there isn't a paper trail to consult on this.
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