Corrected entry: Throughout the entire movie, Denzel Washington as XO says his rank is Lieutenant Commander. He is also spoken to as Lieutenant Commander by the Rear Admiral of the convening board. however his shoulder boards on his uniform at the final trial indicate he is a Commander, not a Lieutenant Commander.
Correction: That is true...the shoulder boards on his uniform at the final trail indicate he is a Commander, but when he puts his cap on outside and calls his Captain, the cap does not feature a single arc of oak leaves on both left and right side.
His shoulder boards are for an O-4, not an O-5.
Corrected entry: At one point a character sneaks through the bowels of the ship from one end to the other. This would be hard to do since he would have to pass through the lower level reactor compartment. Even if you could do this (there is no such passage on any nuclear sub) it would not be very healthy.
Corrected entry: U.S. Submariners do not salute underway because military protocol stipulates that saluting does not occur indoors.
Correction: When not on the weather deck (which unless the submarine is on the surface and the parties are on the bridge), the only time salutes are exchanged on US Warships is when there is an official conduct that requires it (e.g. a ceremony such as Captain's Mast). Its not about being above deck or below deck...you are not outside and salutes are not required. This is not just for submarines, its for all vessels. Since by the very nature of being under the water, its impossible to render a salute outside the vessel, salutes are not exchanged inside the vessel. It would be retarded to expect that to happen, because then the only time the Navy protocols for not rendering salutes would only happen on shore stations, which obviously the Navy has fewer of than it does ships. It is neither practice nor necessary to render salutes when not on the weather deck.
Corrected entry: SSBN's (boomers) are too valuable to go out on patrol alone. They are ALWAYS accompanied by an attack sub whose job it is to "sanitize" the boomer's area of operation of unfriendly subs.
Correction: A ballistic missile boat does not operate in a "bastion" with another submarine. The principle of a ballistic missile boat in the modern world is one of extreme stealth. The Trident platform in itself is such that it is not even necessary for the submarine to deploy at sea to hit many of its intended (Cold War era) targets. It finds nowhere in the ocean to sit (and those are designated areas only identified to the crew and command authorities) and wait. It is not protected any more so than B2 bombers are when they're tasked to fly. The US Navy is too small to send a "protector" SSN out with every ballistic missile boat, even when this movie was made. And as an FWIW, when SSNs did "escort" SSBNs, that escort area was when the missile range was so short that it was in the Soviet operating areas, the submarines were louder, the enemy was more numerous, the probability of detection was higher. Even with those conditions, the "in-area" escort had thousands of square miles of ocean to "sanitize", a practical impossibility. That's why there are no "medium" or "short-range" ballistic missile submarines - you don't park your ordinance where someone can find it.
Factual error: You don't wear your working uniforms underway. You all have coveralls on, both officers and enlisted.
Suggested correction: Coveralls did not become the primary uniform underway until the NWU Type I was found to melt, which was post 2010. Prior to that, enlisted wore the blue two piece working uniform, and officers and chiefs wore khakis.
Not true. I'm a veteran of 10 ssbn patrols during the 80s and 90s. Everyone wore coveralls, and that included all ranks up to and including the captain. However, coveralls weren't required. My second captain always wore khakis. We wore them because they were more comfortable and functional than dungarees and khakis.
Corrected entry: Why is it that all Submarine movies have the obligatory flooding scene, yet no one ever does the math on how much force it takes to close a hatch after the compartment is flooded. In the scene in question there is flooding in what is known as the "Snake Pit" on submarines. The sailor tries to save his buddy but finally has to close the hatch when his shipmate cannot get out in time. Unfortunately, everyone should die because of this error. Mathematically the hatch, which on my sub was 28" is too big to be able to close against sea pressure, Area of a circle is: pi times r squared so; 28/2 = 14, 14 squared = 196, 196 times 3.1416 (pi) = 615 sq.in. Sea pressure at 100 feet is 44 pounds per square inch so 44 times 615 inches is 27,060 pounds of force on the underside of that hatch. Divided by 2000 pounds per ton means that that sailor, who successfully closed that hatch in the movie, must have weighed over 13.5 tons.
Correction: The pressure calculation should be done on the opening of the hole in the hull, not the opening of the hatch. The pressure at the hatch can only be as high as the pressure at the hole in the hull. There would still have been air in the compartment he was in, and that would absorb some of the pressure.
Correction: I agree, flooding seems to be a required staple in too many sub movies. But its dramatic effect cannot be denied. It works. In this example, Lt Hellerman single-handedly nearly dooms the whole boat. By failing to man-up to the urgency of the situation and take the required action, he waited till water started overflowing the hatch coaming. In a real-life situation, it would still be easy to close the hatch before water rose to that level. But unlike air, water is not compressible and will have the same hydrostatic pressure as the seawater at that depth, which was shown to be 1753ft. At that depth (53 ATM), the pressure on the 28" scuttle would be about [ (1753/33) +1] x 14.7 x 618 / 2000 = 246 Tons .
Correction: The shoulder boards show 2 and 1/2 bars which is correct for LT. Commander. Commander is a full 3 bars.