• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Hollywood Subs

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
I just finished watching Crimson Tide and I got a question. Is that representative of service on actual submarines? I'm not talking about the plot, as I'm sure it's pretty far-fetched, but are the procedures and terminology right? Just thought I should ask the professionals.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
AllAmerican75 said:
but are the procedures and terminology right? Just thought I should ask the professionals.

Umm . . . wrong forum. :D
 

Lawman

Well-Known Member
None
I was joking with my roommate (former Bubblehead) about this the other night at a bar. Basically Movies like Crimson Tide, The Hunt for Red October, ect are kinda like Top Gun is as far as an accurate representation of Naval Aviation. Now funny enough, Crimson tide in his opinion was actually much more accurate then October, but yeah there are times when he says he almost has to turn the movie off its so wrong.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I wonder about the level of military involvement in some of those movies. Top Gun actually had a NFWS staff member as a technical advisor, but apparently Jerry Bruckheimer just kept overruling him . . .
 

Fly Navy

...Great Job!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
When they made Crimson Tide, they asked the Navy to help advise them. The Navy read the script and said "NO WAY!". That should tell you something.

The set of Red October is far more reallistic than Crimson Tide's, that's for sure.
 

Lawman

Well-Known Member
None
Fly Navy said:
The set of Red October is far more reallistic than Crimson Tide's, that's for sure.

Coming straight out of my roommates mouth Crimson Tide beat the heck out of it for a better potrayal of life on board a sub. The drilling, the whole fire sequence, some of the background displays. Now the script.... yeah we wont get into that right now, Ive got to go to work.
 

Fly Navy

...Great Job!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Lawman said:
Coming straight out of my roommates mouth Crimson Tide beat the heck out of it for a better potrayal of life on board a sub. The drilling, the whole fire sequence, some of the background displays. Now the script.... yeah we wont get into that right now, Ive got to go to work.

I've been on a SSN and SSBN... I never saw the amount of hatches in either that the movie portays. The missile bay was completely bogus too. Don't even get me started on how they portray sonar in Crimson Tide... good lord.

Edit: I can believe the life on sub part, because HFRO didn't show the life on the sub, it was all from the control room for the most part.
 

webmaster

The Grass is Greener!
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Crimson Tide is quite laughable if you attempt to equate it to how officer's and crew act on board a sub. At the most basic level you could say that the fire scene in the galley, and the drill sets were true to course, but you could throw the rest out and not miss anything.

And the whole dropping the guy on the bus to do pushups (from the future Tony Soprano no less)... nah, not happening...
 

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
Yeah, I figured some of that stuff was wrong. And when James Gandolfini dropped that poor enlisted man for 20 I couldn't comprehend what it must have took him to get anywhere in the Navy. But the drills and fire sequences where sorta correct and that was what my question was about. The plot on the otherhand. . . . :icon_smil
 

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
Oh, about Top Gun, I have a funny story. A while back, my CO, one of my fellow NCOs, and I were having a conversation about adding something or other to our itinerary and whether or not it would be feasible, and I was advocating we do it. And then, my buddy turns to me and says, "Sergeant, it's like Top Gun, it just doesn't work!" That was worth a good laugh.
 

Fly Navy

...Great Job!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
AllAmerican75, is your profile made up? It says you're a high school student... yet you just referred to yourself as being a sergeant. Explain?
 

Godspeed

His blood smells like cologne.
pilot
Fly Navy said:
I've been on a SSN and SSBN... I never saw the amount of hatches in either that the movie portays. The missile bay was completely bogus too. Don't even get me started on how they portray sonar in Crimson Tide... good lord.

Edit: I can believe the life on sub part, because HFRO didn't show the life on the sub, it was all from the control room for the most part.

I've been on quite a few SSNs and SSBNs, and the one thing that seemed unrealistic to me about the movies was all the high tech gadgetry. I was in the launch room on the SSBN, and it was a scene from the 70s. The launch process, and positioning of the boxes, and keys seemed to be accurate in crimson tide (although i don't know about all that EAM jazz). The launch trigger was accurate. Thats another thing I find hilarious about sub movies.... When bad sh*t is happening, they go in to some weird a$$ red alert mode or something and all the lights turn red in the con. Not that it f***ing matters anyways. What are the red lights going to do?

I don't recall the sonar room in crimson tide too much, but if I remember correctly, the sonar room seemed fairly accurate; several terminals/scopes built on another lined up on one side of a bulkhead, with all the operators wearing headsets.

Also, everything seems to be portrayed a lot bigger in the movies, especially the con. Anyways, my $.02
 
Top