Goofs

When the Japanese aircraft are shown attacking the JPJ, one of them crashes into the captain's gig breaking it in half. Later, as the crew is abandoning ship, they are seen in the gig. Destroyers carry only one gig.

When the Japanese torpedo strikes the John Paul Jones II, the ship's interior is shown to have its interior watertight doors open. Part of General Quarters (Battle Stations) procedure is to establish watertight integrity throughout a ship by shutting all watertight doors. This minimizes flooding in the event the ship is struck by enemy fire.

When searching for Japanese aircraft with the ship's radar, a loud "ping" and echo sound is repeatedly heard. Radar systems do not make noises - this sound effect is from a SONAR system. This mistake is repeated several times during the movie. On other occasions, the same sound effect is correctly used when searching for submarines with the SONAR system.

Robinson's character describes the action against HMS Serapis on 23 September, 1779. He states this was the first U.S. victory over a British ship. Actually, John Paul Jones, whilst in command of the 18-gun Sloop-of-war USS Ranger, defeated the HMS Drake on 24 April, 1778. This was not the first U.S. victory. On 7 April, 1777, the Brigantine USS Lexington defeated HMS Edward.

The railings around the deck of destroyers, or any warship, are not made of sheet metal as shown in this film. The railings that surround the deck are made up of posts and cables. This allows water to quickly leave the deck.

After the destroyer is disabled and the engines are out, repeated references are made to the Japanese sub maintaining "sound contact". However, a ship "dead in the water" would normally make insufficient noise to be heard. Active sonar would be required. Destroyers often went "dead in the water" when prosecuting a sub contact.

When the crew abandon ship in the life rafts, a skeleton crew are left on-board ship in an attempt to repair damage, whilst a Japanese submarine is looking for them using sonar.

The skeleton crew take their shoes off in an attempt to keep noise to a minimum, yet the life rafts start engines to get away from the ship.

This noise would be picked up by the submarine surely?

When Chief Boleslavski is telling the story of the Bon Homme Richard, he uses an Americanized pronunciation, calling her "BON homEE RICHerd", when the ship's name actually has a French pronunciation, "BON HOMM rishARD".