Goofs

When the ill-fated Jinks is trapped in the burning rec room during the opening attack, he pounds on the door and flames are flicking through the door frame on the immediate right of him. When one of the crew comes to rescue him, the reverse shot shows no flame whatever within immediate area of the door or frame.

On the maiden voyage of the new ship, Captain Jarvis is standing at the rail of the flying bridge with all 3 buttons of his jacket fastened. The view changes to a rear view and when he answers "Very well" to the helmsman and turns toward the camera, his jacket is completely unbuttoned and hanging open. As he then steps down from the bridge and walks toward Lt. Rossi, all 3 buttons of his jacket are once again fastened.

The convoy departing Halifax has 73 ships, but the progress map shows only 70 ships.

The German biplanes are shown taking off with torpedoes slung below them in real-life footage. However, in subsequent shots using models, the torpedoes have disappeared and the ship is only attacked by bombs and machine gun fire from the biplanes.

The Liberty ship "John Fitch" is launched twice during the closing montage.

There are many reasons why a German U-boat would not pursue an unharmed American Victory ship after a successful attack. For example, the U-boat would have to run continuously on the surface (exposing themselves); also, they would not have enough fuel, nor could they match the speed of the Victory ship.

The new ship receives constant praise for how beautiful it is and how well built it is. The fact is that the liberty ships were considered to be "ugly ducklings", and they were built as quickly as possible from prefabricated sections. They were not designed for beauty or for comfort but to be able to serve. Between 1941 and 1945, one new ship would reach completion every 32 hours. The record time for building a ship from start to finish - in a competition between various shipyards - was 4 days, 15 hours and 29 minutes. A problem with the liberty ships was brittle fractures - cracked hulls and split decks. An even dozen of them simply broke apart on their own and sank. The problem was the combination of inexperienced workers and hasty construction. If the Seawitch was considered to be a truly fine ship, it was an exception.

Characters aboard the Seawitch refer to "Engine Number Two" and "engines". Liberty Ships were powered by a single triple-expansion engine.

Most of the miniature shots of the German U-boats are, in reality, models of American Gato class fleet boats and bear almost no similarity to a U-boat, other than the fact that they're both submarines.

German torpedoes are designed so as to have little or no visible trail.

The commander of the German U-boat following the liberty ship in the Atlantic sends a message to the luftwaffe saying that the ship is heading to Murmansk. One might wonder at how they guessed the destination, but because of the location of the ship, which was too far north for a destination in Britain, it was the only realistic destination.

The entire time the crew is in the mess hall, the clock above the door reads 4:15 and never changes. It is possible, however, that this clock is broken.

In the first scene, Joe Rossi has a toothache on the right side of his mouth. In a later scene, his toothache is on the left side. He does mention that his mouth is filled with little "dwarves" and not just one side.

The Soviets are portrayed as being everyone's buddy, yet during the first two years of the war, the Soviet Union was an ally of Nazi Germany. This did not change until the summer of 1941 when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. Considering that they had spent nearly three years as the enemy of Britain, there was a fair amount of suspicion of and dislike for the Soviets.

This is not unusual, however. The official government position was that they were a key ally and (certainly for diplomatic reasons) they should be represented as such in public media.

The 'Northern Star' really is a doomed ship as the crew's quarters the portholes are not blacked out. The only better way to have your number called would be to light up the transmitter and send a signal "here we are".

When the signal officer gives orders for flag hoist, the flags and pennants do not correspond to the international flag code. The flags hoisted are pennants; letter code flags are square.

When leaving the seaport for the first time, the rudder commands do not make sense. The skipper does not give a specific degree of rudder turn (e.g., 10 degrees or 1/3 rudder), nor does he give a specific course for the helmsman to steer (e.g., 150 degrees magnetic).

The second Russian pilot makes a V with his fingers, supposedly showing a V for victory sign. Because the back of his hand was shown to the sailors below, it actually was the gesture for "up yours". It is unlikely that the actor did this on purpose.

Control wires for the German sub model are visible in the underwater shots.

Harness support cables are visible when Jarvis abandons ship and climbs down the knotted rope.

Guide wires are visible on the submarines and torpedoes.

There is one shot of a Soviet pilot giving a backwards V sign. When Winston Churchill first started showing the V sign, he was photographed holding it backwards as well. He changed this immediately afterwards after being told by his secretary that when one holds up two fingers with the back of the hand showing, it means, "Up yours."

When the crew members are shown in the lifeboat after 10 days at sea, Boats O'Hara is shown with a full "Santa Claus" beard. The rest of the lifeboat occupants have about 10 days' beard growth.

During the near collision, the helmsman on the second ship is given an order to turn to starboard (right). The ship turned left, which is the correct maneuver but not the correct order.

The Canadians all speak with British accents.

When the German sub's Hydrophone Officer picks up the propeller noise from the 'Northern Star', the First Officer he alerts amongst others is the Radio Operator, who sits listening ... in a submerged sub.