In one scene aboard the USS Benjamin Harrison, Rabb refers to himself as a Lieutenant Commander. By this episode, he already holds the rank of Commander.
During a man-overboard evolution, either real or drill, the first words from the mouth of the officer of the deck (or other conning officer) should be a rudder order, in this case "Right full rudder!"; however, no rudder order was audible on the bridge.
The commanding officer (CO) of the aircraft carrier in this episode wears the surface-warfare insignia rather than the gold wings of a Naval aviator (on a khaki shirt at sea and on his dress blues in the courtroom), whereas, in the real world of the US Navy, the CO of a carrier, by a long-standing practice, is always an aviator (and therefore wears gold wings).
It was stated that Petty Officer Duell would "train" his subordinates by making them hold boxes of C4 explosives, working under the intimidation that if those subordinates dropped the boxes, the C4 would explode upon impact.
This is incorrect. C4 does not detonate from impact. In fact, pieces of C4 can be broken off and ignited for cooking and heat. The only way that C4 will actually detonate is from a specialized electrical charge.
This is incorrect. C4 does not detonate from impact. In fact, pieces of C4 can be broken off and ignited for cooking and heat. The only way that C4 will actually detonate is from a specialized electrical charge.
When Harm and Bud first talk to PO Duell, he is directing the loading of an AIM-7 Sparrow. When he is asked why they are using only 4 men, he states that it builds men. Bud says the Sparrow weighs 400 lbs. Buell replies 4 good men. In actuality, the Sparrow weighs 510 lbs.
It was stated that it was fortunate that a lookout happened to be looking in the right direction when the man went overboard. While things may have changed or some carriers operate differently, aboard the USS Ranger (CVA/CV-61) any time the ship was at sea there were two men stationed as far aft as possible, one on each side of the ship, whose sole job was to watch for men overboard. They would immediately throw a life buoy as close to the person as possible and then notify the bridge. These two people were called Lifebuoy watches. These two people were also the only people allowed in this area during flight ops. Note: This is from personal knowledge of having stood many of these watches during two years aboard the Ranger.