Fictional Warships in Movies & TV

[NOMISYRRUC]

@uk 75 Ark Roya IV was a real warship, but I'm giving it an "honourable mention" for its appearance in the 1976 fly-on-the-wall documentary series Sailor.

Another "honourable mention" to Nelson One the oil rig from the 1975 drama series Oil Strike North.

 

[Pirate Pete]

Warship (1973 TV series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Back in the 70s BBC made a series about a Leander class frigate called HMS Hero. HMS Phoebe (F42) played the main part, but according to Wik six other RN Leanders and RAN Derwent also played her.

You beat me to it!

Series One opening titles.

Episode written by Robert Homes my favourite Dr Who and Blake's Seven writer.

Trailer for the Series One DVD featuring Don Henderson

Ian Mackintosh one of the co-creators of the show went on to do The Sandbaggers.

Bryan Marshall who played Commander Alan Douglas Glenn HMS Hero's second commander was also the captain of HMS Ranger in The Spy Who Loved Me.

I remember watching the Blue Peter report that's mentioned in the Wikipaedia article.

Link to Series 4 Episode 11 that has Patrick Troughton as the guest star.

Around the same time David Troughton was appearing in the BBCTV series Wings which I recommend highly.

Can anyone confirm or deny whether James Cosmo was in Warship?

Yes James Cosmo did appear in the series Warship. He played a character Leading Regulator Fuller, IMDB lists 21 episodes.

 

[Rhinocrates]

‘Vigil portrayed us as malevolent robots’ – submariners torpedo the BBC’s nautical hit

Fifteen minutes to launch a nuke? Rampant drugs and hairspray? No beer in the torpedo hatches? As the tense thriller concludes, navy experts scuttle its boatload of mistakes

www.theguardian.com

What did the BBC get right in Vigil, its tale of sex, drugs, treason, murder and perfect shoulder-length hair aboard a Trident submarine? “I noticed the clingfilm over a mug to stop spillage,” says Alexandra Geary, curator of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. “A submariner or sailor has obviously given them that tip.”

 

[Graham1973]

From the 2017 adaption of Vince Flynn's 'American Assassin'

The plot involves a chase where stolen nuclear materials are the McGuffin and culminates in an attempt to nuke the US Sixth Fleet.

United States

USS Flynn (DDG-147)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer (Flight III?)
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Subclass is determined by the pennant number. Looks like some of the welding on the ship was subpar...

 

[Graham1973]

In 2011 South Korea released the film 'My Way' based on the allegedly true set of circumstances that saw Koreans end up in a German Osttruppen unit on D-Day, the film features an effective (albiet CGI heavy) recreation of D-Day. The CGI people they hired ended up using a 'tweaked' version of the Baltimore Class for some of the American ships bombarding the beach and managed to work the 'Mighty Mo' herself into the action.

 

[Graham1973]

J.A.G (S04E12) Dungaree Justice

United States

USS Montana (CGN-42)
Virginia Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships
Note: Class identity determined by the silhouette on the crew cap. The footage used to represent her is that of the Ticonderoga Class Cruiser USS Vincennes (CG-49). While the pennant number is that of the first member of the cancelled 'Strike Cruiser' class, the silhouette on the crew cap is that of a standard member of the former Virginia Class Cruisers.

 

[Graham1973]

J.A.G (S06E12), Collision Course

United States

USS Monroe Smith (FFG-63)
Oliver Hazzard Perry Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships
Note: Footage used to represent the ship is that of the USS John A. Moore (FFG-19) also featured in the Season Three episode 'Tiger, Tiger' and the Season Five episode 'Rogue'. In this episode fog and darkness effects are used to alter the footage. Hood notes that both pennants FFG-62 & 63 appear on cap badges in his 'List of Fictional Warships'. Careful watching of the episode only showed FFG-63 on the crew caps.

Turkey

TCG Gelibolu (Ex-?)
Gearing Class Destroyer
No other details provided.
Note: Footage used to represent the ship is that of the USS Carpenter (DD-825), a Gearing Class Destroyer transferred to Turkey as the TCG Anittepe (D-347) in 1981 (The pennant number '825' is clearly visible in the footage.). In 1999 the Oliver Hazzard Class Frigate USS Reid (FFG-30) was transferred to the Turkish navy as the TCG Gelibolu (F-493) which clashes with the name assigned. Season Six of JAG aired in 2000, the episode may have been shot before this latter transfer was announced.

Greece

HS Naxos (Ex-?)
Knox Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships
Note: This ship is represented by footage of USS Robert E. Peary (FF-1073) a ship transferred to Taiwan as the Chi Yang (FF-932) in 1992. Three Knox Class Frigates (HS Ipiros (F456) (ex-USS Connole (FF-1056)), Makedonia (F-458) (ex-USS Vreeland (FF-1068)), Thraki (F457) (ex-USS Trippe (FF-1075))) were transferred to Greece in 1992, this would be a fictional fourth. While no crew caps are shown the ship's crest is depicted.

Note: The 1992 'TCG Muavenet Incident' in which an accidentally fired pair of Sea Sparrow missiles from the USS Saratoga (CV-60) struck the TCG Muavenet (DM-357) (Ex-USS Gwin (DM-33), a Robert H. Smith Class Destroyer) is referenced in the episode and may have been the inspiration for it.

 

[Graham1973]

JAG (S06E03) Florida Straits

United States

USS Stanley Dace (FFG-19)
Oliver Hazzard Perry Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Represented by footage of the USS John A. Moore (FFG-19) that appears in the Season Three episode 'Tiger, Tiger', the Season Five episode 'Rogue' and the Season Six episode 'Collision Course'. This is the third time I know of that the pennant number on the crew cap is matched to the stock footage used. The other two cases being Season Two's 'Cowboys and Cossacks' and 'Rogue' the Season Five episode mentioned earlier.

Note: Reference is made in the episode to the Elián González case and it may have been an inspiration for the episode.

 

[Graham1973]

JAG (S05E17) Valor

United States

USS Vance (DDG-101)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer (Flight IIA)
Details as per the real ships
Note: Pennant is that of the USS Gridley (DDG-101). The ship used to represent her is the Forest Sherman Class Destroyer USS Decatur, at that time bearing the pennant number E-31, as can be seen in the attached screen shot. At the time the Decatur was being used as a test ship. The USS Decatur is also used as an 'at port' ship in the NCIS Season One episode 'Sub Rosa' and the JAG Season Five episode 'The Return'.

Note: The episode was clearly inspired by the bombing of the USS Cole (DDG-67).

 

[GTX]

Does the USS Stingray from Down Periscope count?

View: https://youtu.be/u_Mx1kA3irk

 

[Graham1973]

Does the USS Stingray from Down Periscope count?

As does the USS Orlando from the same film.

And continuting my 'ground truthing' of the TV series J.A.G.

JAG (S05E04) - The Return

United States

USS Ellyson (FFG-68)
Oliver Hazzard Perry Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Represented by footage of the USS Vandegrift (FFG-48) accompanied in the initial scene by an unidentified supply ship. The footage has been mirror imaged and a 'nighttime' effect applied as can be seen in the attached screenshot. The same name accompanied by pennant number (FFG-19) was featured in the later fifth season episode 'Rogue' (I've covered that episode earlier in the thread.). Why new crew caps with a different pennant number were made up for the later episode when the same ship name was used is a mystery.

Note: The story of this episode draws inspiration from the 1842 Somers Incident which saw the son of John Spencer, the then US Secretary of War hung for mutiny. The same incident also provided inspiration for a Sixth Season episode entitled 'Mutiny' in which the series regular cast are used in a dramatisation of the Somers Incident.

 

[royabulgaf]

HMS Vigil TV series "Vigil". A police procedural set aboard the HMS Vigil, a Royal Navy missile sub. The exterior shots of sub look sort of odd. The interior shots are quite detailed, although the control room seems a bit roomy to my untrained eye. The sets would have cost a fortune for a TV show. Does the RN have a training simulator for their boomers that the TV crew cojld have borrowed?

 

[Hood]

No it was a studio set. https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/where-was-vigil-filmed-in-scotland/

The only a real Vanguard control room has been seen (HMS Vengeance) was the 2021 Channel 5 programme Trident: On Board Britain's Nuclear Submarine and even then the sensitive items like the sonar consoles were fuzzed out and it looked far more cramped and dark than any film set!

 

[royabulgaf]

No it was a studio set. https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/where-was-vigil-filmed-in-scotland/

The only a real Vanguard control room has been seen (HMS Vengeance) was the 2021 Channel 5 programme Trident: On Board Britain's Nuclear Submarine and even then the sensitive items like the sonar consoles were fuzzed out and it looked far more cramped and dark than any film set!

I liked the captain's quarters fully stocked bar, and someone (coxswain?) had a nice 50s couch.

 

[Graham1973]

From the 2002 'Gung Ho' action film 'Frogmen: Operation Stormbringer', a rebadged Iowa Class Battleship...

USS Truman
Iowa Class Battleship
Details as per the real ships.

 

[Graham1973]

From a Direct-To-DVD action film 'The Phantom Below' a pair of CGI Submarines, the American one is probably a Los Angeles Class based on the name, the pennant given is that of the Ohio Class Submarine USS Michigan at one point in it's career.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

Yes James Cosmo did appear in the series Warship. He played a character Leading Regulator Fuller, IMDB lists 21 episodes.

For what it's worth, I watched Series 3 & 4 at the time and he was the best thing in it. I watched the whole series on Youtube last year. He was still the best thing in it. He should have been in all 45 episodes. Mark Nialls (played by Donald Burton) HMS Hero's captain in Series 1 & 2 was the second best thing in it.

There should have been a sequel in the 1990s where Fuller had risen through the ranks to be the commander of a Type 22 frigate with Nialls (now an admiral) as a recurring character.

James Cosmo also appeared in the Yorkshire Television sitcom "HMS Thunderlcoud" about a fictional RN shore base which was written by Ian Mackintosh.

Ian Mackintons co-created "Warship" and wrote many of its episodes including my favourites "One of those days" and "The ides of Mark". Ian Mackintosh also wrote the well regarded Yorkshire Television series "The Sandbaggers" which I missed most of at the time, but also saw on Youtube last year and thought was very good. "The Sandbaggers" and "HMS Thunderlcoud" came to premature ends due to the aeroplane he was a passenger disappearing in 1979.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

Are radio adaptations of fictional warships novels allowed? If they are there are several BBC Radio adaptations of fictional warship novels of note that are occasionally repeated on Four Extra and are available on Internet Archive and/or YouTube.

A radio adaptation of a non-fictional warship that deserves an honourable mention is the three-part dramatisation “Mutiny on the Bounty” based on the books by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall first broadcast in July 1995 by BBC Radio Four as part of its Classic Serial series. Oliver Reed starred as William Bligh, Roger Daltrey was Thomas Burkitt and Lionel Jeffries was Old Alexander Smith.

It’s also notable (to me at least) as being the last performance of British-based American actor David Healy (1929-1995) playing Captain Folger & Matthew Quintal. He has 137 credits on IMDB from 1963 to 1995, mainly playing American parts in British productions and because I’m a child of the 1970s my choices are “Jackanory”, “Jackanory Playhouse” & his many appearances in Jerry Anderson productions including Shane Weston in “Joe 90”.

Although it wasn’t about a warship (fictional or real) the “Classic Serial: The Diary of Samuel Pepys” that BBC Radio Four did in six parts earlier in 1995 also deserves an honourable mention because of the part he played in the history of the Royal Navy.

 

[Pirate Pete]

As you’ve opened the can of worms talking of Radio Warships…
Surely in that category we must include ‘The Navy Lark’ - a classic BBC Radio comedy series featuring the fictitious HMS Troutbridge…(they did make a film which featured a different ship)…
Quote used almost every week ‘left-hand down a bit’ as they tried and usually managed to fail to manoeuvre out of the harbour entrance!

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

As you’ve opened the can of worms talking of Radio Warships…
Surely in that category we must include ‘The Navy Lark’ - a classic BBC Radio comedy series featuring the fictitious HMS Troutbridge…(they did make a film which featured a different ship)…
Quote used almost every week ‘left-hand down a bit’ as they tried and usually managed to fail to manoeuvre out of the harbour entrance!

I've asked for permission to open the can. It's @uk 75's thread. It's up to him to say whether they're allowed.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

Another "honourable mention" to Nelson One the oil rig from the 1975 drama series Oil Strike North.

For what it's worth Episode 1 of this series is currently on Hatchet Hopkirk's Youtube channel and will be replaced by Episode 2 at the weekend.

He's also got Series 2 Episode 1 of "Maybury" up. This isn't about a fictional warship, but it is a chance to see Patrick Stewart (who played the main character) a few years before "Star Trek the Next Generation". It will be replaced by Series 2 Episode 2 at the weekend.

Donald Burton and David Saville who were in "Warship" are currently appearing in "The Man Who Was Hunting Himself" (not to be confused with the Roger Moore film with a similar name) his YouTube channel too. Episode two will be replaced by the third and final episode at the weekend.

 

[Scott Kenny]

Note: Royal Oaks Entertainment was a production house specializing in 'gung ho' action films for the 'straight-to-VHS/direct-to-DVD' market. This film, which clearly had a higher budget than those that followed it, provided stock footage which was recycled through several later movies, with the last known use being in an early 2000s sci-fi horror movie. Evidence can be seen of the higher budget because of:
(a.) The presence of not one, but two 'washed up' Hollywood actors.
(b.) The use of custom baseball caps, later films by this company simply used navy blue baseball caps with no printing.

Ironically, you can get just about any actual USN ballcap for fairly cheap (they're uniform items for the crews, so ~$20 give or take. Less for larger ships).

And I do mean ANY ballcap, going all the way back to the WW2 ships.

Does the USS Stingray from Down Periscope count?

Down Periscope ALWAYS counts!!!

Single most accurate movie about submarine crews. EVER.