Did You Know?

During the final season, McHale and his crew along with Captain Binghamton and Lt. Carpenter were all shipped from the Pacific theater of operations to the European Theater. In reality, transfers of this nature were rare if they even occurred at all.

The name of the naval base where the show takes place is Taratupa.

Binghamton referred to McHale's men as "his bunch of pirates".

The men referred to Ensign Parker as "Mr. Parker". McHale referred to him as "Chuck". In the United States Navy, all officers with ranks from Ensign to Lieutenant are more often than not referred to as, "Mister".

The crew's duties were:

• "Christy" Christopher - Quartermaster
• "Tinker" Bell - Motor Machinist's Mate
• Lester Gruber and "Happy" Haynes -Torpedoman's Mate
• Willy Moss - Radioman
• Virgil Edwards - Gunner's Mate

One of the crew's favorite liberty ports when they were in the Pacific was New Caledonia.

The vessel used for shots of the PT-73 under way was a 72-foot type II Vosper MTB (Motor Torpedo Boat), a British design built under license in the U.S. for export to Russia. The war ended in August 1945 before the boat, the real number of which was PT-694, could be sent to the Soviet Union. The boat was then purchased by Howard Hughes and used as a chase boat for the one and only flight of his Spruce Goose aircraft. The boat was then sold to the studio - as there were few other real PT boats left in existence at the time - and some liberties were taken in reconfiguring it to look like a PT Boat. Vosper PT's did not have machine gun turrets on either side of the pilot house (though ironically the real PT-73, a Higgins design did) as the PT-73 in the show did. Other irregularities are the main mast aft and a small mast right in front of the cockpit. Shots of the crew aboard the PT-73 were filmed on a full-scale mock-up in a soundstage. "PT-73" was later sold to the mayor of Hawthorne, California, and was converted to a sport fishing boat. It was later destroyed when it broke loose of its mooring near Santa Barbara and washed up on the beach during a storm. The real PT-73 was a 78-foot Higgins boat assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 13, which saw service in the Aleutians and in the Southwest Pacific theater. On 15 January, 1945 it ran aground, and was destroyed to prevent it falling into enemy hands.

Captain Binghampton's job before the war was running a yacht club on Long Island Sound.

During the first season, Ernest Borgnine was the only one of the cast to appear in the opening credits. From the second season on, Tim Conway and Joe Flynn also appeared.

Although all of the officers, including McHale wore dress khakis, none of them wear ribbons of any kind.

Happy Haynes (Gavin McLeod) was the only one of McHales crew that was non-rated (Seaman). All the rest were first and second class petty officers.

Sometimes, Admiral Rodgers' first name is given as John. At other times, he is called Bruce.