# Movies set on US Navy ships **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209 "2014-05-24T20:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/21 "2014-05-25T01:32:57Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > An under-appreciated gem is [The Final Countdown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_%28film%29). It’s a WWII time-travel what-if, but none the worse for that, I came here to mention this one! One of my favorite movies set in what was then, to me, contemporary time. I saw it in the theater, and have the VHS, now DVD tape of it. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/22 "2014-05-25T02:37:29Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > DVD tape I’ll take “Things old people say” for $200, Alex. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/23 "2014-05-25T09:26:03Z")
The Battle of Midway. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/24 "2014-05-25T12:45:09Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I’ll take “Things old people say” for $200, Alex. > > 😉 Hey, I’m an old fart, what can I say?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/25 "2014-05-25T14:55:54Z")
Away all Boats. Jeff Chandler movie. The Bridges at Toko-Ri. William Holden ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/26 "2014-05-25T15:01:42Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > In honor of Memorial Day (and because my old man served in the Navy), what are your favorite movies set mostly or partly aboard US Navy ships? I expect most will be WWII movies, but if you can find any about John Paul Jones, bring 'em on! > > I will start off with _[Mister Roberts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGEGZjkC-ZU)_. That was the first movie I thought of. I caught it on TV about a year ago and was surprised when they used Mercury Fulminate for a prank. (Fulminated Mercury being part of a much larger..um..‘prank’ in Breaking Bad). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/27 "2014-05-25T21:33:40Z")
Some of my choices (especially the good ones) have already been taken, so pardon the triviality of my list. **Ice Station Zebra Abbott and Costello in the Navy Tora, Tora, Tora**(at least partly on US ships in the harbor.) Ditto**Pearl Harbor** ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/28 "2014-05-25T21:59:49Z")
\*USS Salem \* was used to play the \* Graf Spee \* in the British film “The Battle of the River Plate”, US title "Pursuit of the Graf Spee " ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/29 "2014-05-26T01:27:52Z")
[_Battleship._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_(film)) ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/30 "2014-05-26T02:15:34Z")
_[Below](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276816/)_ - set aboard a US sub in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/31 "2014-05-26T02:27:10Z")
[Ensign Pulver](http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/334187/Ensign-Pulver-Original-Trailer-.html), 1964, shown today on TCM. Has a dance scene so overtly homoerotic that my wife and I could not believe that there were people in the audience that didn’t understand this. The trailer linked-to above, at 2:21-2:25 has (I’m pretty sure) a full-on man-on-man kiss. Starring Robert Walker and Robert Matthau. Jack Nicholson is also in this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/32 "2014-05-26T18:03:46Z")
😉 I think you mean _Walter_ Matthau. Also Burl Ives as the biggest asshole in the US Navy; he gives a great performance here. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/33 "2014-05-27T12:57:17Z")
Although it’s not listed on the location list for [_Tears of the Sun_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314353/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1), the aircraft carrier scenes at the beginning of the film were shot onboard the USS Harry S. Truman CVN-75. We changed our deployment workup schedule for a couple of days to bring the cast and crew onto the ship for a few days, and the ‘evacuated embassy personnel’ are really crewmembers of the ship. If I catch the beginning of the movie on TV some times, I’ll watch the first few minutes to see some old friends. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/34 "2014-05-27T13:34:36Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > 😉 I think you mean _Walter_ Matthau. Also Burl Ives as the biggest asshole in the US Navy; he gives a great performance here. Totally overshadowed by Jimmy Cagney’s work in the same role in _Mister Roberts_. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/35 "2014-05-27T15:14:27Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Quality movie - Up Periscope! Surprisingly good. I streamed this a few weeks ago because I like WWII movies and had never heard of it. I saw it had James Garner in it so I figured it’d be good for a laugh. Hoo boy, was I wrong. That’s a well done, tense movie with both good character arcs on several people Garner gives a great performance against his normal routine. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/36 "2014-05-27T15:43:23Z")
[The Bedford Incident](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bedford_incident/) ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/37 "2014-05-28T14:35:35Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The Philadelphia Experiment. > > Star Trek IV, (partly set on board the nuclear wessel _Enterprise_). It was called the USS Enterprise, but it was really filmed onboard the USS Ranger, a non-nuclear powered aircraft carrier that was still in commission at the time of the filming. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/38 "2014-05-28T14:52:58Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > I thought The Hunt for Red October took place on a Russian sub. > > Didn’t it? It belonged to the US Navy by the end of the movie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/39 "2014-05-28T15:02:50Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > An under-appreciated gem is [The Final Countdown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_%28film%29). It’s a WWII time-travel what-if, but none the worse for that, A co-worker of mine was serving on the \*USS Nimitz \*at the time that movie was made, and like many of his crewmates, he appeared briefly in a few scenes. He gets to snap to attention when Kirk Douglas enters the room, and someone shouts “Officer on Deck!” He says he had one “Big Scene” in which the ship is passing through the time warp, and he was supposed to be writhing around the floor in pain… but that was left on the cutting room floor. His name actually is in the credits… misspelled. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209/40 "2014-05-28T16:08:57Z")
Just saw a trailer on TV for an upcoming series: [The Last Ship](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ship_(TV_series)) Heh. Might be interesting. Could stink on ice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-on-us-navy-ships/689209.md?page=3)