First segment goofs


The narrator says the E's crew has yeomen and clerks. Yeomen are Navy clerks.
The E did not depart Pearl for Midway in the company of the Hornet and Yorktown. The Yorktown remained in Pearl for repairs for another 36 hrs. The Jap sub I70 was not the first warship sunk by the Navy. Those were the midget subs sunk on Dec. 7.

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They still are making mistakes. The YAMATO did not have a 174' beam, maximum beam was 127oa/121wl. Do not understand how they can make such obvious mistakes.

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Lack of attention to detail.

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Inexcusable for a show on the HISTORY CHANNEL. Find these oversights very irritating because they should be fixed way before taping.

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Another goof was Swede Vejtasa victories against the Japanese planes in the Battle of Santa Cruz. Every book I have read about the Battle of Santa Cruz, they state that he shot down 5 Kate torpedo planes and 2 Val dive bombers. In the 360, they said that he shot down 5 Vals and 2 Kates. They even had him on the show stating so. There are big phyical differences between a Japanses Val dive bomber and a Kate torpedo plane. I can't understand why a guy like Swett would made such an errorous statement, and why the producers, directors, and writers would make back him on that error. No wonder why the Luftwaffe pilots were accuse of inflating their victories and submitting false reports by Hermann Goering. In air combat, you better know for sure what kind of plane you are facing; otherwise, you might get shot down because you thought it was friendly or your fellow pilots shot you down because they thought the plane you were flying looked like it was an enemy plane. Furthermore, if you can't identified a plane properly, why should your aerial claims be approved let alone get a medal for bravey in the air? The earlier versions of the P-51s look like ME-109s, and some Germans in North Africa mistakenly thought that the Curtiss P-40s look like the Hawker Hurricanes and vice versua.

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You would of thought that 'Gun Camera' footage would have confirmed type of aircraft shot down. Unless early U.S.N. and U.S.A.A.F. Fighters did not have that feature.

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I don't know if the later versions of the F4F Wildcat (FM-2) and P-40F, P-40K, P-40L, P-40M, and P-40N carry gun cameras. I do know that the early versions of the F4F and P-40B and P-40E did not carry gun camera. I was reading about an interview with Robert Scott, one of the top aces of the China Burma India Theater, and he stated that the Chinese claim that he shot down another 9 planes for a total of 22 planes. Scott himself stated that he could have shot down those 9 planes; however, his plane (P-40) did not have gun camera, so there was no way to verified his probables. The only way to get a confirmation was through witnesses on the ground and/or in the air.

The Germans had a strict rule about aerial victories - no witnesses, no kill. The Germans were the first ones to install gun cameras on their fighter planes.

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Thanks for the additional information. Understand that the Germans considered that you needed ten (10) kills to become a ACE rather then five (5) which was the accepted number for most powers. Do not recall what was the standard for Imperial Japan.

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you think that maybe the history books are wrong. if the person said himself that is what he shot down, i've got to take his word over a book that could be a recording error by an officer or whoever records the victories.

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I can't believe the first review and 2 threads I read here on IMDb were all negative. A TV show is not and should not be a historical archive, even if it's aired on the History Channel. This just looks like another "look at what I know" thread at the expense of a fine program.

We aren't going to be planning military operations off the facts aired during this show so how about considering the bigger picture. Which is how this show, unlike nearly all it's peers, has a younger generation interested in learning some history of WWII. In much greater detail than they would in the classroom.

What is the crime in the narrator saying the E had Yeoman and clerks? Those of us that know what a Navy Yeoman is might find that statement redundant but how about the many viewers who don't? Should we really criticize such a fine program for using the word "and" instead of saying "which are"?

The Yamato did NOT have a 127' beam, it had a 127'7" beam. If you're going to complain about something so minor at least be anal enough to post a factual correction. Because when shipbuilders use this show as a blueprint to recreate the Yamato in full scale we don't want them to be off 7 inches. I hope that illustrates how ridiculous a complaint that is.

My son watches this with me, engages in conversations about our history, and even cited it as a reference on a school project for Pearl Harbor. Which makes your complaints about minor inaccuracies for 60 year old events seem petty. Try finding a positive way to show off your vast WWII knowledge, don't do it by dumping all over one of the finest programs on television today.


Ooh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. "I'm my own grandpa!"

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Well that is very positive that your son watches it with you and you discuss our history with him. That is very refreshing. You take though some of the posters critizism to much to heart. It is between people who take the subject seriously and are just SURPRISED that such obvious errors are made. Those are minor points and we don't believe anybody has been discourged from watching this fine series.

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I was reading some comments on the Internet about US Marine NCOs reactions to be being called "Sarge." To them, being called Sarge is a felony. Those Marine NCOs take their ranks seriously and how they are to be addressed by lower ranking enlisted marines. Walk up to a Marine NCO and called him or her Sarge and dont' be surprise when you get a negative reaction from him or her especially if that Marine NCO was named R. Lee Emery who has his own show called Mail Call on the History Channel. Then again, I thought we threw the British out because we got tired of their caste/class system even in their army.

We want accuracy when it comes to time, place, events, people, etc. How would you like it if British Field Marshall Bernard Montogomery was called the Desert Fox instead of German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel? How would you like it if someone stated that General George Patton's nickname was Bull instead of Old Blood and Guts? How would you feel if the phrase "War is Hell" was attributed to Confederate General Robert Lee when the phrase was actually made by Union General Sherman?

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Its an excellent show and I can overlook a few minor discrepancies. I don't really expect those that didn't serve to get all the ranks exactly correct. Given the limited budget for this show, they probably assigned one minimum wage worker to find out all the ranks of those involved.

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I was reading some comments on the Internet about US Marine NCOs reactions to be being called "Sarge." To them, being called Sarge is a felony. Those Marine NCOs take their ranks seriously and how they are to be addressed by lower ranking enlisted marines. Walk up to a Marine NCO and called him or her Sarge and dont' be surprise when you get a negative reaction from him or her especially if that Marine NCO was named R. Lee Emery who has his own show called Mail Call on the History Channel. Then again, I thought we threw the British out because we got tired of their caste/class system even in their army.


To be honest, I don't know beans about military protocol.
That said, I've always felt that "Sarge" was a rather negative if not insulting way to address any Marine. If there are Marine ranks for which it is appropriate, please educate me. A few months ago, I had the honor of meeting a Marine who was an Iraqi war veteran in a chat room. I asked him if a civilian addressing him as "Marine" was insulting and he assured me it was not. Maybe I took his answer too broadly, but any time I ever meet one from now on, I'll address him as "Marine".

Think about it.If you were observing this nutty planet,would YOU make contact?

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I understand your point on them sinking the minisubs but I believe they meant first of the war. The war was not declared on Japan on December 7. I believe that is what they meant. Also I watched the first episode today and at least as I took it, the Enterprise was patroling the Hawaiian Islands and when they headed out to Midway, that is when the Yorktown and Hornet met up with them.

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in the second episode the narrator said the lexington had been sunk, but that carrrier was only reported as sunk, even though it was slightly damaged.

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