Complete credited cast: | |||
Randolph Scott | ... | Lieut. Commander MacClain | |
James Brown | ... | Lt. Paul Cartwright | |
Ella Raines | ... | Joyce Cartwright | |
Barry Fitzgerald | ... | Stooky O'Meara | |
Andy Devine | ... | Walsh | |
Fuzzy Knight | ... | Cricket | |
Noah Beery Jr. | ... | Stone | |
Richard Lane | ... | Vice Admiral | |
Thomas Gomez | ... | Smithy | |
David Bruce | ... | Lt. Rawlins | |
Murray Alper | ... | Jones | |
James Flavin | ... | 1st Lt. Bill Gardner | |
Walter Sande | ... | Evans |
In 1943, 'Mac' MacClain, Canadian Navy, has lost his ship and many men to a German torpedo. While waiting for a new ship, he befriends Joyce Cartwright, sister of one of his dead officers. We follow the building and launch of new Corvette K-225, the 'HMCS Donnacona'. And who should be Mac's new subaltern but Joyce's other brother Paul, fresh out of the academy. Mac will do his best to make a good officer of Paul...if they both survive their hazardous sea duty. Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
****I checked with a military buff friend of mine to be sure, but the Corvette was the Canadian name for a ship that would be classified as a destroyer escort****
I certainly agree with your assessment of the movie, but I'm going to "split a hair or two" about how a Corvette compares to other navy ships.
Actually, a Corvette was quite a bit smaller than an American Destroyer Escort. Corvettes were about 1000 tons and had one engine and screw. DEs had twin screw propulsion and were 1500 tons or more.
A Destroyer Escort was closer to what the Royal Canadian Navy called a Frigate, which was larger and had twin screws. A typical smallish convoy would have a Frigate and 4 Corvettes as its navy escort.
My dad served in the RCN doing convoy duty on HMCS Arnprior, a castle-class Corvette. He always felt that the depiction of a Corvette rolling in heavy seas as shown in the movie was spot on. The RCN joke was that "a Corvette would roll on wet grass".