Destroyer

Destroyer (1943)

You'll Always Remember . . . And Never Forget . . . Destroyer

Flagwaving story of a new American destroyer, the JOHN PAUL JONES, from the day her keel is laid, to what was very nearly her last voyage. Among the crew, is Steve Boleslavski, a shipyard welder that helped build her, who reenlists, with his old rank of Chief bosuns mate. After failing her sea trials, she is assigned to the mail run, until caught up in a disparate battle with a Japanese sub. After getting torpedoed, and on the verge of sinking, the Captain, and crew hatch a plan to try and save the ship, and destroy the sub.

Date of release
1943-08-19
TMDB
6.8 / 10 (17)
Runtime
1h 39m
Genres
Adventure, Drama, War
Director
William A. Seiter

Casting

Interesting facts

Destroyer is a 1943 American war film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Edward G. Robinson.

Production

Lieutenant Commander Donald Smith, the film's technical advisor, served as Navigation Officer on USS Arizona until one month before the ship was sunk at Pearl Harbor.

The fictional destroyer in the film John Paul Jones II is, as explained in the film, named after the naval officer John Paul Jones who was the first commander of the US Navy. Although he died in France, he was reburied in the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland. A film of his life was released in 1959.

There have been two ships of the United States Navy called John Paul Jones. At the time of the film, the Navy also had a destroyer called Paul Jones named for the historical figure. Currently operating with the US Navy is the USS John Paul Jones, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer (DDG-53). Like the fictional ship in this film, the USS John Paul Jones appeared prominently in a 2012 film, Battleship.

An error appears in the scene of the destroyer being launched as she begins to slide down the slipway before Mary launches the champagne bottle, which almost misses. This may have been because the scenes showing the ship sliding down the slipway used a real launching with the scene with Mary edited in post-production.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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