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The naval equivalent of [[Just Plane Wrong]]. Writers sometimes get maritime procedures, depictions of naval vessels etc. wrong. Sometimes they [[Did Not Do the Research]] or [[They Just Didn't Care]].
The naval equivalent of [[Just Plane Wrong]]. Writers sometimes get maritime procedures, depictions of naval vessels etc. wrong. Sometimes they [[Did Not Do the Research]] or [[They Just Didn't Care]].


Often invoked simply because of practicality -- if you're shooting a movie about the Pearl Harbor attack, for example, it's highly unlikely you'll get the Navy to actually raise anchor and ship out so that you can fill it with (ludicrously expensive) period-accurate recreations, so just dress up what ships are there and understand the audience will (hopefully) [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|suspend their disbelief]].
Often invoked simply because of practicality—if you're shooting a movie about the Pearl Harbor attack, for example, it's highly unlikely you'll get the Navy to actually raise anchor and ship out so that you can fill it with (ludicrously expensive) period-accurate recreations, so just dress up what ships are there and understand the audience will (hopefully) [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|suspend their disbelief]].


See also the [[Useful Notes]] on [[Naval Gazing]]. Not related to [[Shipping|artistic ships]].
See also the [[Useful Notes]] on [[Naval Gazing]]. Not related to [[Shipping|artistic ships]].
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* ''[[Kurogane Pukapuka Tai]]'', an odd mixture of [[Girls Love]] romp and [[World War Two]] military action, largely avoids this trope.
* ''[[Kurogane Pukapuka Tai]]'', an odd mixture of [[Girls Love]] romp and [[World War Two]] military action, largely avoids this trope.
** The main ship, the Imperial Japanese Navy heavy cruiser ''Unebi'', is fictional, but plausible and explained; its operational history is based on that of real Japanese commerce raiders, although those were converted merchant ships.
** The main ship, the Imperial Japanese Navy heavy cruiser ''Unebi'', is fictional, but plausible and explained; its operational history is based on that of real Japanese commerce raiders, although those were converted merchant ships.
*** The claim that the ''Unebi'' was modified on the slips from a commercial design seems a little unlikely, though; it's all warship. This is likely because the ship, as drawn, is based on a model kitbash the [[Mangaka]] constructed; the first chapter uses some photos of this model. It's a shortened cruiser with two turrets, one each fore and aft, taken from the old battleship ''Settsu''; each mounts two 30cm (12") guns, making the ''Unebi'' effectively a pocket battleship, like a half-size German ''Deutschland'' (''Graf Spee'') class. [[Reality Is Unrealistic|The USN actually believed such a ship existed in WWII and was so sold on it they built the Alaska-class "large cruisers" as a counterforce.]]
*** The claim that the ''Unebi'' was modified on the slips from a commercial design seems a little unlikely, though; it's all warship. This is likely because the ship, as drawn, is based on a model kitbash the [[Mangaka]] constructed; the first chapter uses some photos of this model. It's a shortened cruiser with two turrets, one each fore and aft, taken from the old battleship ''Settsu''; each mounts two 30 cm (12") guns, making the ''Unebi'' effectively a pocket battleship, like a half-size German ''Deutschland'' (''Graf Spee'') class. [[Reality Is Unrealistic|The USN actually believed such a ship existed in WWII and was so sold on it they built the Alaska-class "large cruisers" as a counterforce.]]
** The German submarine ''U-800'' is a fictional example of a real U-boat class, the IX-C, which is a feasible type to be in the Indian Ocean attacking British shipping.
** The German submarine ''U-800'' is a fictional example of a real U-boat class, the IX-C, which is a feasible type to be in the Indian Ocean attacking British shipping.
** The destroyer HMS ''Cutlass'' is a fictional example of the C Class destroyer, and is obviously visually identifiable as the 1931-built class, not the 1943 and onward newer C class. However, the older C class had by then been transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. However, the almost identical D class was still in service, and it would have worked just fine; it's quite likely the C class was just chosen instead to allow a name beginning with C.
** The destroyer HMS ''Cutlass'' is a fictional example of the C Class destroyer, and is obviously visually identifiable as the 1931-built class, not the 1943 and onward newer C class. However, the older C class had by then been transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. However, the almost identical D class was still in service, and it would have worked just fine; it's quite likely the C class was just chosen instead to allow a name beginning with C.
* ''[[Super Atragon]]'': In their effort to stuff more anti-American cliches into the show, the writers overlooked the fact that US battleships are named after states, not abstract concepts. Those are reserved for pre-Nimitz class carriers (''USS Independence'') or new, headlines-worthy corvettes<ref> or, [[Insistent Terminology|Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)]] if you're a US Navy officer</ref>, such as the ''USS Freedom''.
* ''[[Super Atragon]]'': In their effort to stuff more anti-American cliches into the show, the writers overlooked the fact that US battleships are named after states, not abstract concepts. Those are reserved for pre-Nimitz class carriers (''USS Independence'') or new, headlines-worthy corvettes,<ref>or, [[Insistent Terminology|Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)]] if you're a US Navy officer</ref> such as the ''USS Freedom''.


== [[Film]] ==
== [[Film]] ==
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* Averted, partly, in ''Battle of the River Plate'', where the cruisers ''Achilles'' and ''Cumberland'' were played by the actual ''Achilles'' and ''Cumberland''. Then again, ''Graf Spee'' was played by the USS ''Salem'', which looked nothing like the real ''Graf Spee''. And ''Cumberland'' was minus a turret thanks to a refit.
* Averted, partly, in ''Battle of the River Plate'', where the cruisers ''Achilles'' and ''Cumberland'' were played by the actual ''Achilles'' and ''Cumberland''. Then again, ''Graf Spee'' was played by the USS ''Salem'', which looked nothing like the real ''Graf Spee''. And ''Cumberland'' was minus a turret thanks to a refit.
** Of course, they couldn't use the real ''Graf Spee'', because it had already been defeated by the ''other'' real ships that starred in the movie and scuttled. Even in Hollywood, it's difficult to sink the same ship twice.
** Of course, they couldn't use the real ''Graf Spee'', because it had already been defeated by the ''other'' real ships that starred in the movie and scuttled. Even in Hollywood, it's difficult to sink the same ship twice.
** Lampshaded when the German Captain says sometimes they even disguise themselves as an American cruiser and the captured British merchantman Captain accepts that as being why they have a number painted on the bow. This treads the line between [[Truth in Television]] and [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]] because there are plenty of pictures of the real ''Admiral Graf Spee'' disguised as a US Navy cruiser -- without a hull number -- because US Navy cruisers did not display their hull numbers in 1939 either. And, since the newest American cruiser in commission at the time of the battle was USS Helena, hull number 50, the number 139 (Salem's hull number) would have been somewhat ineffective as a disguise.
** Lampshaded when the German Captain says sometimes they even disguise themselves as an American cruiser and the captured British merchantman Captain accepts that as being why they have a number painted on the bow. This treads the line between [[Truth in Television]] and [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]] because there are plenty of pictures of the real ''Admiral Graf Spee'' disguised as a US Navy cruiser—without a hull number—because US Navy cruisers did not display their hull numbers in 1939 either. And, since the newest American cruiser in commission at the time of the battle was USS Helena, hull number 50, the number 139 (Salem's hull number) would have been somewhat ineffective as a disguise.
** It's the silhouette that counts. By the time you're close enough to read the hull number it's far too late to matter.
** It's the silhouette that counts. By the time you're close enough to read the hull number it's far too late to matter.
** Besides, the ships are given acting credits during the title sequence - "HMS ''Sheffield'' as HMS ''Ajax''" and so on. The USS ''Salem'' looks as much like the ''Graf Spee'' as Will Smith looks like Muhammad Ali...
** Besides, the ships are given acting credits during the title sequence - "HMS ''Sheffield'' as HMS ''Ajax''" and so on. The USS ''Salem'' looks as much like the ''Graf Spee'' as Will Smith looks like Muhammad Ali...
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** It also proves very much that realism doesn't have to take away from excitingness or coolness. If anything, the battle sequences were better for the lack of explosions etc.
** It also proves very much that realism doesn't have to take away from excitingness or coolness. If anything, the battle sequences were better for the lack of explosions etc.
** Also an interesting subversion: The plot of the book that the movie borrows heavily from, ''Far Side Of The World'', features the HMS ''Surprise'' pursuing a larger ''American'' ship (The fictionalized USS ''Norfolk'', based on the real-world USS ''Essex''). The Americans in the movie became French privateers... sailing in an American-built ship.
** Also an interesting subversion: The plot of the book that the movie borrows heavily from, ''Far Side Of The World'', features the HMS ''Surprise'' pursuing a larger ''American'' ship (The fictionalized USS ''Norfolk'', based on the real-world USS ''Essex''). The Americans in the movie became French privateers... sailing in an American-built ship.
*** Of course, the only surviving American frigate from that era is the [[Cool Ship|USS]] ''[[Cool Ship|Constitution]]'', which was a larger 44 gun "Heavy Frigate" vs the 36 gun ''Essex''. The moviemakers used a detailed model made by digitally scanning the hull of the USS ''Constitution'' in Boston to portray the Norfolk. So simultaneously they have [[Shown Their Work]] while they also used [[Artistic License Ships|some artistic license]].
*** Of course, the only surviving American frigate from that era is the [[Cool Ship|USS]] ''[[Cool Ship|Constitution]]'', which was a larger 44 gun "Heavy Frigate" vs the 36 gun ''Essex''. The moviemakers used a detailed model made by digitally scanning the hull of the USS ''Constitution'' in Boston to portray the Norfolk. So simultaneously they have [[Shown Their Work]] while they also used some artistic license.
** This was pure pragmatism. They wanted to keep the plot, and the American audience. We don't like to see our countrymen portrayed as the enemy, and doing so would have hurt the film at the box office.
** This was pure pragmatism. They wanted to keep the plot, and the American audience. We don't like to see our countrymen portrayed as the enemy, and doing so would have hurt the film at the box office.
*** More pragmatic than that: the film is set in 1805, at the height of the direct French threat to Britain, which is referenced by the characters and used by Aubrey to motivate the crew before battle. After the Battle of Trafalgar that year, Britain was in no real danger of attack and the French were an insignificant naval threat. During the War of 1812 (when the Royal Navy would be directly combating the United States Navy), there was no threat at all of either country actually conquering the other.
*** More pragmatic than that: the film is set in 1805, at the height of the direct French threat to Britain, which is referenced by the characters and used by Aubrey to motivate the crew before battle. After the Battle of Trafalgar that year, Britain was in no real danger of attack and the French were an insignificant naval threat. During the War of 1812 (when the Royal Navy would be directly combating the United States Navy), there was no threat at all of either country actually conquering the other.
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** Again, security concerns: the Navy would rather swallow ground glass than put a close-up shot of a nuclear missile submarine on-screen in 1990.
** Again, security concerns: the Navy would rather swallow ground glass than put a close-up shot of a nuclear missile submarine on-screen in 1990.
** And then there was that "supercavitation makes it silent" bit...
** And then there was that "supercavitation makes it silent" bit...
*** Technically in the book, it was more akin to ''[[Tom Swift|Tom Swift Jr. And His Jetmarine]]'' -- a waterjet for propulsion, and the point was no so much quiet as 'sounding just like background flow', an underwater equivalent of white noise.
*** Technically in the book, it was more akin to ''[[Tom Swift|Tom Swift Jr. And His Jetmarine]]''—a waterjet for propulsion, and the point was no so much quiet as 'sounding just like background flow', an underwater equivalent of white noise.
*** This trope was also averted hard in the latter half of the film, with the frigate ''Reuben James'' being played by the frigate ''Reuben James''.
*** This trope was also averted hard in the latter half of the film, with the frigate ''Reuben James'' being played by the frigate ''Reuben James''.
**** Not so much. The story takes place in the winter of 1984, and the ''Reuben James'' (FFG-57) wasn't commissioned until March 1986.
**** Not so much. The story takes place in the winter of 1984, and the ''Reuben James'' (FFG-57) wasn't commissioned until March 1986.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'', "World War Three" -- a ''Trafalgar'' class attack submarine with Trident nuclear missiles?
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'', "World War Three"—a ''Trafalgar'' class attack submarine with Trident nuclear missiles?
** And they used a Harpoon anti-shipping missile against {{spoiler|Number 10}}. ''Trafalgars'' carry the Tomahawk, a missile actually designed for use on land targets.
** And they used a Harpoon anti-shipping missile against {{spoiler|Number 10}}. ''Trafalgars'' carry the Tomahawk, a missile actually designed for use on land targets.
*** Given the fact that they [[Shown Their Work|got the right designation for a sub-launched Harpoon and modeled it perfectly]], this is extra galling.
*** Given the fact that they [[Shown Their Work|got the right designation for a sub-launched Harpoon and modeled it perfectly]], this is extra galling.
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