MovieChat Forums > Down Periscope (1996) Discussion > Military inaccuracy

Military inaccuracy

posted 17 years ago by josh-magder
60 replies | jump to latest

In the spirit of pointing out military inaccuracies, I'll go ahead again with this movie:

What the hell was the indoor saluting thing? In the Navy, we ABSOLUTELY NEVER salute indoors unless we're covered and on duty. If you're cover isn't on, you don't salute. Simple as that. That is an ARMY tradition.

Second, what the hell are officers yelling at each other for? The LT yelling at the LCDR? Officers don't yell at each other. They were acting like it was freaking Marine Corps boot camp or something.

Also Sailors boarding a ship in civilians clothes? meanwhile others were in uniform.

I understand it's a comedy and profits on grossly stereotyping the story and characters, but being in the Navy, this kinda stuff was glaring. There are inaccuracies which lend themselves well to this kind of comedy (such as fraternization- hot female lieutenant getting sexually harassed by enlisted sailors etc) but the inaccuracies I'm talking about have no comedic effect and are just annoying.

Maybe I'm just being a negative nancy, but does anyone else notice this stuff?
Great movie either way though!

[–] mark-maples 11 years ago

OK, get over it people, it's a movie, hollywood is inaccurate on just about everything, it's for entertainment, not documentary work, if you can't handle that, stay out of the theaters. Ever see their political thrillers, how about 'First Kid,' ever see that, is it an indicator of the secret service agents?

Wasn't me

[–] TCopelin 11 years ago

It was a comedy. Everything was done for exaggerated comedic effect.

[–] penguinpete50-1 8 years ago

Concerning civilian clothes: Commanding officers have some leeway with uniform regulations at certain times. During my time on the USS Petrel (ASR-14), the ship was very relaxed when out of sight of land. It was common to hear "Now shift into the Petrel underway uniform of the day" passed over the 1MC announcing system - signifying that (weather permitting) tee-shirts, cutoffs, and/or sandals were considered to be acceptable attire. If weather did not permit, civilian windbreakers were commonly seen. This policy was tightened somewhat (no more sandals) after a change-of-command.

Of course, this would never fly when the ship was in port - strictly regulation uniforms then.

[–] CGSailor 8 years ago

I'm gonna call BULLSH!T on that right there bub.

I have never heard of ANY ship pulling that crap.
And if by some strange way, it did... was unique to that one ship under that one CO and the CO and all senior officer would have been in trouble if discovered by higher authority.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] penguinpete50-1 8 years ago

Call whatever you like. I was there; I took advantage of the situation. Maybe it WAS unique to that ship, or unique to the junk-boat (salvage-and-rescue) Navy . My second ship was a Garcia-class frigate, and had no such relaxation. Doesn't matter. Is there anyone out there who served on the USS Petrel in the late '70's who can back this up? BTW, the C.O. and X.O. (O-6 and O-3 respectively) did get into trouble, but not for uniform violations. The Petrel was involved in an episode of lobster theft just before I checked aboard - harvesting lobsters from lobster pots belonging to a commercial fisherman. Both officers were court-martialed. Google for "uss petrel lobster"...

[–] liscarkat (19447) 3 years ago

In almost all of the many WWII submarine books I've read, written by guys who were there, they mention crew members in shorts, even boxer shorts and swimming trunks, t-shirts, shirtless, in sneakers, and even barefoot. Submarines could be very hot and humid, especially on patrol in tropical latitudes, and opportunities to go outside on deck were limited. When leaving or returning to port they put on uniforms.

[–] Ranb (11382) a year ago

This film was still less inaccurate than Crimson Tide. :)