Shownotes
In this special episode of 'Talk With History,' hosts Scott and Jenn dive deep into the rich history of the US Navy as it celebrates its 250th birthday. They explore the Navy's top five historical moments, notable movies, and iconic entertainment characters that have shaped the legacy of the greatest Navy in the world. From the birth of the Navy to the Battle of Midway, from 'Top Gun' to 'Crimson Tide,' and characters like Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and Popeye the Sailor Man, join them on this entertaining and enlightening journey through naval history and pop culture. Tune in for engaging discussions, a reading of a five-star podcast review, and much more. Go Navy!
00:00 Introduction to the US Navy's Legacy
01:06 Podcast Introduction and Listener Review
02:27 Celebrating the Navy's 250th Birthday
03:00 Top Five Navy Moments
03:19 The Birth of the US Navy
04:11 #1 Birth of the US Navy, 1776
06:08 #2 Don't Give Up the Ship: The Battle of Lake Erie, 1812
08:36 John Paul Jones and the War of 1812
09:53 #3 The Battle of Midway: Turning Point in WWII, 1942
11:51 The Battle of the Ironclads
14:22 The Rise of Nuclear Power: USS Nautilus
16:22 #5 Ensign Bennie meets LT Mitchell, 2004
18:02 Top Five Navy Movies
18:09 #1 Navy Movie
18:26 #2 Navy Movie
19:15 #3 Down Periscope, 1996
20:30 #4 Navy Movie
21:50 #5 Navy Movie
23:33 Honorable Mentions: More Great Navy Movies
24:19 Top Navy Characters in Entertainment
24:28 #1 Navy Character
24:50 #2 Navy Character
25:43 #3 Navy Character
26:53 #4 Navy Character
29:15 #5 Navy Character
30:27 Honorable Mentions: Navy Characters
31:48 Conclusion: Celebrating Navy History
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Transcripts
Some say A Nation's Destiny is written on the sea.
Speaker:For 250 years, the story of the United States has been inextricably tied to
Speaker:the men, women, and ships of its navy.
Speaker:From the cobbled together fleet of the Continental Congress, with heroes like
Speaker:John Paul Jones refusing to surrender to the mighty nuclear powered aircraft
Speaker:carriers of today, the US Navy has been the shield that has guarded our shores and
Speaker:projected American power across the globe.
Speaker:In this special episode of Talk With History, we're setting a course through
Speaker:a small part of our Navy history and we're gonna talk about the top five
Speaker:Navy moments, top five Navy movies and top five Navy entertainment
Speaker:characters that highlight our history.
Speaker:Join us as we celebrate the ships, sailors and pop culture that
Speaker:have helped define 250 years of the greatest Navy in the world.
Speaker:Welcome to Talk With History.
Speaker:I'm your host Scott here with my wife and historian Jen.
Speaker:Hello.
Speaker:On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world travels
Speaker:YouTube channel journey, and examine history through deeper conversations
Speaker:with the curious, the explorers, and the history lovers out there.
Speaker:And Jenn, before we get into our main topic, we actually have a Five star
Speaker:podcast review to read on the show.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Gosh.
Speaker:So I, I wanna say thank you to P Cola Blues, and that P Cola
Speaker:is in reverence to Pensacola.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So that it's five stars.
Speaker:This is just a couple days ago.
Speaker:What a great podcast.
Speaker:First off, would like to thank you both for your amazing service to our country.
Speaker:I found y'all on Instagram and found the podcast not long ago, but have
Speaker:listened to almost all of them as I've done some, done a couple of long road
Speaker:trips, interesting topics, and great guests keep on walking and talking.
Speaker:PS we need some Pensacola history, so we've actually talked about that.
Speaker:I think we talked to JD about going down to the.
Speaker:Museum sports and
Speaker:the museum.
Speaker:The
Speaker:museum, the aviation museum down there.
Speaker:I trying, trying to get 'em in there.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:So thank you to p Cole Blues for, for leaving a five star review.
Speaker:So if you're another listener out there and you're listening to this episode and
Speaker:you want your review, read on the podcast, drop us five stars, write us a little
Speaker:note and we'll, we'll read it on the show.
Speaker:Alright, Jen, so we.
Speaker:Kind of started doing this on the way to the Navy ball.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:so we were driving to the Navy Ball.
Speaker:All dressed up.
Speaker:Looking.
Speaker:Looking good, looking fine.
Speaker:Happy Birthday, US Navy.
Speaker:Happy birthday.
Speaker:US Navy.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:250 years.
Speaker:We are a year older than the country itself.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And so we were, we were driving to downtown Memphis for the Mill Millington
Speaker:area, the Memphis area Navy ball.
Speaker:250 years.
Speaker:650 people showed up.
Speaker:We were all dressed up.
Speaker:You were wearing your tiara uniform.
Speaker:Tiara.
Speaker:I'll show a picture of it for those watching the video.
Speaker:So funny.
Speaker:And as we were driving, I just thought okay.
Speaker:You know, in the history of the United States Navy in 250 years, what
Speaker:are some of the top five moments?
Speaker:And you and I kinda just started spitballing ideas and then I was
Speaker:like, well, what about movies?
Speaker:What are the top five movies?
Speaker:And that one went a lot faster.
Speaker:And then we eventually settled on characters and we're like,
Speaker:this would be a great podcast.
Speaker:So yes, we decided to make this into a podcast.
Speaker:So the Navy, October 13th, 1775 as the Continental Navy, basically they.
Speaker:They started the Navy with building two ships, so the United States
Speaker:realized if we're gonna be a country and go for dominance against the
Speaker:world's greatest Navy, we should probably have something to meet them.
Speaker:And even though there's a lot of merchant ships from America, or the
Speaker:Colony of America, there weren't any battleships from the Colony of America.
Speaker:So they had.
Speaker:They had put aside funds from Congress to build these two ships, and that is
Speaker:the birth of the United States Navy.
Speaker:Yeah so the United States turns 250 next year.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:As we are recording this.
Speaker:But the Navy has just recently turned 250, so happy Birthday Navy.
Speaker:And we're gonna talk about some of the top five moments.
Speaker:And I'm gonna, I, I came up with these moments.
Speaker:You're gonna try and tell me if I missed anything.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So we, what we know, number one,
Speaker:we know number one, birth of the Navy.
Speaker:Birth of the Navy.
Speaker:Birth of the Navy.
Speaker:That's a moment.
Speaker:And actually, so I, I, I looked it up and there was something else in here
Speaker:that I thought we could put in with that kind of went with the birth of the Navy.
Speaker:So the birth of the Navy and the sixth frigates, so this is 1775 and 1794.
Speaker:So these two dates, these two years covered the birth of the Navy.
Speaker:And then the Crucial Naval Act of 1794.
Speaker:So this Naval Act created the permanent Navy.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And authorized the construction of the six original frigates, the
Speaker:Constitution, the Constellation, the Chesapeake, the Congress, the
Speaker:United States, and the President.
Speaker:So these are all the USS.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:These powerful ships, particularly the USS Constitution, established
Speaker:the US as a credible maritime power in the world's oceans.
Speaker:Fighting the quasi war and the Barbary Wars, and then winning crucial
Speaker:early victories in the war of 1812.
Speaker:So that's I, I think that I felt like that went hand in
Speaker:hand with the birth of the Navy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So then America was kind of like.
Speaker:We won the war.
Speaker:We don't need a Navy anymore.
Speaker:So they disbanded the Navy and then when they started to have affairs with
Speaker:the Merchant Marines being attacked by the Barbary Pirates, they were like,
Speaker:we probably need to relaunch a Navy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So if you ever see.
Speaker:Service flags and they're supposed to be an order of the services.
Speaker:The Marine Corps flag will be before the Navy flag, and people
Speaker:are always like, why is the Marine Corps flag before the Navy flag?
Speaker:Even though the Navy is technically older with technically one month older,
Speaker:it's because we had a break in service.
Speaker:The Marine Corps did not, and so they considered them the oldest
Speaker:continuous service, and then we have to line up behind them.
Speaker:Whatever, let the Marines have it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Marines are part of
Speaker:the Department of the Navy anyways.
Speaker:They hate it when you say that.
Speaker:So moving on from that, right?
Speaker:Talking about the war of 1812 went right into don't give up the ship.
Speaker:So don't give up the ship.
Speaker:The Battle of Lake Erie to me, like this is the next moment in Navy
Speaker:history and it I, and I called this one out because, not because the
Speaker:battle of Lake Erie was like this.
Speaker:Monumental thing.
Speaker:It was, but it gave the flag that, that now hangs in my alma
Speaker:mater at the Naval Academy, and so this don't give up the ship.
Speaker:This was actually said by Captain James Lawrence as his dying command during
Speaker:a naval battle in the war of 1812.
Speaker:Now he was the commander of the USS Chesapeake with one of those
Speaker:battleships we named earlier.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:When it engaged in battle with HMS Shannon on June 1st, 1813.
Speaker:So his last words became a rallying cry for the Navy.
Speaker:And then Oliver Hazzard Perry, who was his friend, took up that battle cry and,
Speaker:and made that that flag and that original flag is still at the Naval Academy.
Speaker:And we have an entire episode on this because did.
Speaker:Oliver has actually give up the ship because he launched in the Battle
Speaker:of Lake Erie, on the Lawrence on the ship, named for his friend, and the
Speaker:Lawrence got hit and, and faltered, and he had to move to the Niagara.
Speaker:And from the Niagara he defended and able to win.
Speaker:We ha we, we have met the enemy and they're ours.
Speaker:This is kinda like the famous things he says, but he technically gave up the ship.
Speaker:He takes down that flag.
Speaker:He takes the flag with him to the other ship, puts the flag up.
Speaker:So that has come become synonymous with the navy.
Speaker:Mean don't give up the fight.
Speaker:Yeah, keep going.
Speaker:That's the actual
Speaker:ship.
Speaker:The original is at the Naval Academy and we have seen it.
Speaker:It's not the one in the hall.
Speaker:What is that hall called?
Speaker:Bancroft Hall.
Speaker:It's not a Bancroft Hall.
Speaker:I think it's a hero's hall with all the people who have passed.
Speaker:Serving their country are listed in Heroes Hall.
Speaker:That's a replica because it's on display and it's hit by the sun and it has all,
Speaker:it's, it's there to, to be looked at.
Speaker:The original was made in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And if you don't.
Speaker:If you haven't listened to the show for a while, we actually
Speaker:lived in Erie for, for a few years
Speaker:and women quilted it.
Speaker:So it's like these wool blankets that they quilted and it's falling apart,
Speaker:so they have it protected under no lights and so you can actually see it.
Speaker:Bear in mind if you ever see, don't give up the ship.
Speaker:We have the flag right here behind us.
Speaker:There's no apostrophe and don't,
Speaker:that's right.
Speaker:But you forgot the biggie.
Speaker:John Paul Jones.
Speaker:Yeah, John.
Speaker:I, I mean it, I'm, I, I had to pick five, so
Speaker:I have not yet begun to fight.
Speaker:That is, that's our birth so his grave is at the Naval Academy and
Speaker:we have a video from there as well.
Speaker:The crypt of John Paul Jones is.
Speaker:It reminds you so much of a sailor crypt.
Speaker:Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker:If you're ever in the Annapolis area, you can, the public can come
Speaker:onto the, to the Naval Academy.
Speaker:You gotta go through the screening.
Speaker:So don't bring like a knife in your pocket or anything like that.
Speaker:But you can go into to the museum and you can go see.
Speaker:The John Paul Jones crypt.
Speaker:It's really cool.
Speaker:It's really cool.
Speaker:He's Scottish born.
Speaker:Scott's Scottish born but he's famous for the interaction he had with the
Speaker:British Battle of September 23rd, 1779.
Speaker:His ship is taking a lot of of, of Fal is, is almost faltering.
Speaker:It's taking a lot of cannibal hits and, the British are basically asking for
Speaker:his surrender, and it's looking like you probably should, but instead he
Speaker:says, I have not yet begun to fight.
Speaker:And they actually turn the battle around.
Speaker:Well, they take the British ship.
Speaker:So that has become synonymous with the Navy.
Speaker:And we don't give up, even if we're looking like we're not gonna.
Speaker:Be successful.
Speaker:We don't give up.
Speaker:And so I don't know.
Speaker:John Paul Jones is up there for
Speaker:me.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a, it's a pretty big part of our naval heritage.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So again, fast forwarding.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So this is one I was actually thinking of in the car when we were driving
Speaker:to the Navy Ball, but I, I didn't end up, I didn't end up saying
Speaker:it, but it's a battle of Midway.
Speaker:Oh, yes.
Speaker:Battle of Midway is a big one.
Speaker:So 1942, the Battle of Midway, June 4th through the seventh.
Speaker:So this was the single most decisive naval battle in US history in, in, in
Speaker:a turning point in the, in the war, in the Pacific during World War ii.
Speaker:So the Navy sunk forward Japanese aircraft carriers while losing only one of its own.
Speaker:This, this irreversible loss of Japan's.
Speaker:Best aircraft carriers shifted the tides of the war to the United States for the
Speaker:rest of World War ii, and it really proved the dominance of our aircraft carriers
Speaker:as the primary warship of the future.
Speaker:So the Battle of Midway, I mean, even I studied it, in in all of my.
Speaker:Navy classes that I had to take and all that stuff.
Speaker:And again, not the historic, not the history guy, but when I was doing
Speaker:my masters through the Naval War College and stuff like that, that is
Speaker:a battle that we study no matter what.
Speaker:And so that's a big one for the Navy.
Speaker:Yeah, I, I wrote a whole paper on that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that is, I mean, that's 1942, so that's right in the middle of the war and.
Speaker:You have to remember, before World War ii, we were not a Navy
Speaker:dominance like we are today.
Speaker:We America mobilized to become a dominant military force.
Speaker:We, we were not there aviation wise.
Speaker:We were not their sea wise and the Japanese were, were there.
Speaker:And so we basically had to mobilize as a country, build battleships, get people
Speaker:to man those ships and build aircraft and get people to fly them and buy.
Speaker:Mid midway where we're meeting the Japanese.
Speaker:As we get better and better at, at basically at warfare we end
Speaker:up being the dominant force in the world out of World War ii.
Speaker:So there is a lot that we gained there, but I, I think there's one that.
Speaker:To me, we could, we've covered on this channel.
Speaker:What's that?
Speaker:The Battle of the Ironclads.
Speaker:So that was another one that when I was kinda doing my research that was
Speaker:recommended in like the top five.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's, there's one other that I have as an honorable mention, but
Speaker:I'll talk about that at the end.
Speaker:So the Ironclads, we covered that, the Battle of Hampton
Speaker:Roads March 8th and ninth, 1862.
Speaker:What's so significant about this battle is it's the first time
Speaker:two metal ships meet each other.
Speaker:And what's so neat is they basically just.
Speaker:Float around each other, hitting each other with cannonballs as
Speaker:they bounce off each other for two hours and it becomes a stalemate.
Speaker:But in that moment, both militaries, the Union and the
Speaker:Confederacy had wooden ships.
Speaker:And you're realizing at this moment, so are Navys across the world.
Speaker:That has now become obsolete because what these two metal ships could do, taking
Speaker:down the wooden ships and now how they could fight against each other, it really
Speaker:made it so now every ship in the worldwide navies are gonna be covered with metal
Speaker:because of what they could do with any kind of cannonball or anything hitting
Speaker:them is really, it can bounce off of it.
Speaker:Until we get into, better artillery and things along that nature.
Speaker:But I just really that battle because of how it was so close
Speaker:to the shore and people watched it and they were amazed by it.
Speaker:I also liked that it was a two day battle, that at first it was the us At first it
Speaker:was the CS Virginia from the Confederacy who had gone out and sunk the Congress
Speaker:and the Cumberland, and they had ran the Minnesota aground and left it there.
Speaker:And went home to gather up more ammunition, come back the next
Speaker:morning , March 9th to meet them and, and basically finish the job.
Speaker:And then during the night, the the monitor, the USS monitor, the
Speaker:unions ironclad, had come down the river and kind of perched out
Speaker:right in front of the Minnesota.
Speaker:So when the Virginia came.
Speaker:It met the ironclad, and I always think that's I don't know.
Speaker:Cool that it defended the the Minnesota and wouldn't let it be sunk.
Speaker:And it met them and it then it fought.
Speaker:So I, I kind of like
Speaker:that.
Speaker:Well, and, and, and a couple of the ones that we've named already, aside
Speaker:from the Battle of Midway, but yeah.
Speaker:Oliver has Perry and, and John Paul Jones.
Speaker:I mean there, that's like Navy culture.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That was a moment that literally changed NA's throughout the globe.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It changed the design for forever.
Speaker:Wooden ships after that point were essentially going to become obsolete.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that was a pivotal moment in Navy history.
Speaker:So moving forward here had to pick another one.
Speaker:So 1954.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And the rise of nuclear power, the USS Nautilus was commissioned.
Speaker:So this, I mean, it's, think, think about this, the commissioning
Speaker:of the USS Nautilus, SSN 5 7 1.
Speaker:The world's first nuclear powered submarine launched the nuclear age
Speaker:for naval warfare and was a monumental engineering achievement spearheaded
Speaker:by Admiral Hyman g Rickover.
Speaker:If you're, if you're Navy or Navy adjacent, evil will know the name.
Speaker:Rickover Nuclear propulsion gave submarines unprecedented speed,
Speaker:endurance, and range, allowing them to operate submerged indefinitely.
Speaker:This technological leap fundamentally changed the Navy's capabilities
Speaker:and was central to the United States Cold War strategy.
Speaker:And if you think about it again, another pivotal moment in history, a nuclear
Speaker:powered submarine, that that was the next era that I think we still live in of
Speaker:nuclear nuclear dominance submarine power.
Speaker:That is, that is true power projection there.
Speaker:Aside from, one thing that I didn't put on here was like the first, aircraft
Speaker:carrier, but the, the, the advent of nuclear power and a nuclear powered
Speaker:submarine, you can't argue that piece.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:I'm not a sub person.
Speaker:Why don't we go with
Speaker:this?
Speaker:Well, this, this is an entire Navy podcast, but I know you're
Speaker:probably gonna mention something.
Speaker:Aviation,
Speaker:the Birth of Naval Aviation, May 8th, 1911.
Speaker:It was born with a, the first Navy's first aircraft, so their first
Speaker:aircraft that flew off of a ship back to the, back to the shore.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, yeah, nuclear power.
Speaker:Every ship uses it now.
Speaker:And what's the thing we love to say in the Navy that the president asks anytime?
Speaker:Something big happens in the world.
Speaker:What's the first Correct?
Speaker:It's, it's, it's, I think it's two things.
Speaker:Where are my aircraft carriers or where are my submarines?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:So the Navy is, when it comes to world dominance, it is the navy because we
Speaker:can get close to any piece of land.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And when you talk about international law and international waters,
Speaker:we just operate in those areas.
Speaker:And and because the, as the dominant Navy
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So the fifth and certainly not least was 2004.
Speaker:There was a young incident that checked on board the USS Tarawa and
Speaker:met a salty lieutenant aviator by the name of Lieutenant Jennifer Mitchell.
Speaker:So that is when Enson Scott Benny met the salty lieutenant Jennifer Mitchell.
Speaker:A huge moment in Navy history, right on that ship right there.
Speaker:That's a, a picture behind us and the rest is history.
Speaker:And that's why you guys are listening to this podcast today.
Speaker:So I think that was a pretty pivotal moment in yeah.
Speaker:Navy history.
Speaker:I
Speaker:think that's number one.
Speaker:Yeah, I don't think you were expecting that one.
Speaker:I wasn't and I love it.
Speaker:So honorable mention was, one thing that I had actually thought of was the sailing
Speaker:of the Great White, great White Fleet.
Speaker:'cause it was that early 19 hundreds pre-World War I.
Speaker:It was, yeah, it was.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Or just after?
Speaker:I think it was just after it was, it was right around World War I, but that was
Speaker:another big one, because again, coming outta the 18 hundreds great white fleet,
Speaker:just as circum, navigated the globe, showing our American presence all around.
Speaker:Yeah, no, it was right before World War I, 1907 to 19 0 9
Speaker:16 battleships painted white.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Circumnavigated the
Speaker:globe.
Speaker:So I, I, I mean, and that's another one that.
Speaker:We all learn a little bit about, and that's, that's another piece, you know
Speaker:as naval officers that we'll we'll learn about is you do end up an advocate
Speaker:and a representative of your country, especially, friends of mine who are ship
Speaker:cos and they're pulling in a port and they are the representative, especially if
Speaker:they're, they're by themselves, they are the representative of the United States.
Speaker:There's very different things they have to do.
Speaker:And and that was a good example of that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, we all learn about that and it must have been pretty
Speaker:impressive in 1907 to see that.
Speaker:Yeah absolutely.
Speaker:That's
Speaker:pretty cool.
Speaker:Alright, moving on to the top five Navy movies.
Speaker:I know you're gonna have strong opinions about this.
Speaker:So first one I put I, well, I think was obvious, and this is to me, this
Speaker:is probably number one, is Top Gun.
Speaker:Top Gun
Speaker:first
Speaker:one,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:To me that's easy.
Speaker:Like I almost don't even have to talk about it.
Speaker:Change the Navy,
Speaker:change the Navy, people, so many pilots came in because of that movie.
Speaker:It,
Speaker:it just, it, it gave so much to the Navy.
Speaker:So I'm just gonna go ahead and move on to number two because there's
Speaker:not too much we can say about that.
Speaker:And that is 1995 Crimson Tide.
Speaker:Where the Captains Gene Hackman and his XO executive officer Denzel
Speaker:Washington, clash over a disputed order to launch a nuclear missile.
Speaker:So great movie.
Speaker:Two phenomenal actors.
Speaker:Submarine movie it.
Speaker:It's, I mean, it was one of the first ones that I could think of when we
Speaker:were thinking Top five Navy movies.
Speaker:I like it, but I think I would probably pick Hunt for red October.
Speaker:Yeah, because I just love that so
Speaker:much more.
Speaker:That
Speaker:one's.
Speaker:To me, that's US Navy adjacent, right?
Speaker:Jack Ryan.
Speaker:He's not Navy,
Speaker:he's Marine.
Speaker:He's a, he
Speaker:was a Marine,
Speaker:but the Navy intercepts them.
Speaker:The
Speaker:Navy intercepts.
Speaker:So I think that's fair.
Speaker:Those two are right with each other.
Speaker:But if we're talking kind of Navy, Navy, I would say Crimson Tide.
Speaker:So number three on my list was 1996 down Periscope starring Kelsey
Speaker:Grammar, a rebellious Navy officer.
Speaker:He's who's given command of a dilapidated.
Speaker:World War II era diesel submarine with a misfit crew and is tasked with
Speaker:winning a series of naval war games.
Speaker:I, I love this movie,
Speaker:the US s lia.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:it's so much fun.
Speaker:It's com completely crazy.
Speaker:But I, it just makes me laugh and it's one of those movies
Speaker:when you think Navy movies.
Speaker:It just comes to mind.
Speaker:Well, I like it because it does remind me of command.
Speaker:It reminds
Speaker:you you're dealing with all these, all, all these different
Speaker:characters from all over the, the
Speaker:personality
Speaker:personalities, like the first female officer in a submarine and, and all.
Speaker:And he's, he's dealing with that and obviously nowhere close to
Speaker:accurate in any sense of the word.
Speaker:But it's just a lot of fun
Speaker:and I feel like his leadership.
Speaker:Kelsey Graham does play a really good officer.
Speaker:He does, I think his leadership, how he's trying to lead these people and
Speaker:he treats them different, like how he knows they need different motivations.
Speaker:I think it's really good.
Speaker:And
Speaker:there's always the joke, they're talking about his tattoo.
Speaker:I won't say it on the podcast, but what tattoo he has and like where it is.
Speaker:Which is again, another classic Navy thing.
Speaker:So just a movie that's a ton of fun.
Speaker:It's it's very, it's pretty family friendly.
Speaker:You can watch it with your kids pretty easily.
Speaker:All right, so the next one on my list was 1954, the cane mutiny.
Speaker:Now I've never seen this, but when I was looking around it, I've heard
Speaker:about it all the time and this, the cane mutiny always comes up when
Speaker:you're talking about Navy movies.
Speaker:So that's Navy, because I would like Master and Commander,
Speaker:but that's Royal Navy.
Speaker:So I, so it's not quite the same, but I do I do love the origins of the US
Speaker:Navy, and a lot of that is found in these old movies, just we use the same terms,
Speaker:we use the same whistles and piping, which they all did on these old ships.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so if you wanna see a lot of the tradition and heritage,
Speaker:which is a big part of the US Navy, we love our traditions.
Speaker:It comes from the birth of.
Speaker:Of the Royal Navy and the Navy, the US Navy.
Speaker:So these movies do a really good job of showing that.
Speaker:Yeah, so the 1954, the K Mutiny, it stars Humphrey Bogart, which
Speaker:was his only Oscar nominated role, which I actually didn't know that.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I was surprised by that.
Speaker:And so this is a, a dramatic and psychological film about a naval court
Speaker:martial after the crew of a World War ii Minesweeper mut these against
Speaker:their erratic and paranoid captain.
Speaker:So it's, it's.
Speaker:Just by the description of it, it's a lot of acting.
Speaker:And if he's Oscar nominated in it, it's again, this movie comes up all the time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:When you're talking kind of top Navy movies.
Speaker:Alright, so number five.
Speaker:Again, 'cause I had to pick one, I had to pick a few Good Men.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:So 9 19 92.
Speaker:A Few Good Men with Tom Cruise.
Speaker:I consider that a Navy movie because primary character is Navy.
Speaker:Navy Marine Corps.
Speaker:It's.
Speaker:It's an amazing movie.
Speaker:I love, I love a Few Good Men.
Speaker:Anytime you and I know anytime it's on, we'll watch the whole thing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because I, I do love the interaction with him and Demi Moore as the higher
Speaker:ranking officer, and I think Jack Nicholson plays a perfect Marine.
Speaker:He's
Speaker:so good.
Speaker:And Keefer Sutherland, who does as well.
Speaker:They're so good.
Speaker:They're amazing.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:I do love a few Good Men.
Speaker:So
Speaker:an interesting fact about that movie, I didn't know this, the
Speaker:film's writer was Aaron Sorkin.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And he actually wrote the original stage play, which the movie is
Speaker:based on, on cocktail napkins, when he was working as a bartender at
Speaker:the Palace Theater on Broadway.
Speaker:So he would write his ideas and dialogue on napkins, in between,
Speaker:like during the acts of the musical.
Speaker:And then he'd go home and he'd, he'd type it on his typewriter.
Speaker:So yeah, I, I just thought that was interesting.
Speaker:I didn't realize Aaron Sorkin had written.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think, if I remember correctly, he wrote it because he
Speaker:was either sitting at happy hour and he was over listening to a
Speaker:conversation or he knew someone mm-hmm.
Speaker:Who was a young jag, just got done with law school and checked into
Speaker:the Navy as a young jag and just, and got a court martial, a general.
Speaker:Who was put getting brought up on murder charges, court martial.
Speaker:And this young Jag was like, what do they want me to do?
Speaker:They want me to plea it out, and that's really what they wanted.
Speaker:So that was the spark for it.
Speaker:Yeah, that was the inspiration for it.
Speaker:So that was his inspiration.
Speaker:But if you know anything about the US Navy, I tell people this all the time.
Speaker:The Navy considers you a lawyer.
Speaker:The Navy considers you a doctor.
Speaker:If you come in as one, they don't care how much experience you've got.
Speaker:You're gonna get the big cases.
Speaker:Right away.
Speaker:So be ready if that's what you wanna do.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I, I did have a couple honorable bow mentions for top five movies.
Speaker:Hunt for Red, October, we talked about that.
Speaker:Navy Seals.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Classic said,
Speaker:said, had to say Navy Seals, McHale's Navy.
Speaker:Another comedy.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And then under Siege, I had to say under Siege because it's Steven
Speaker:Segal and he's the Navy Seal cook.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then he's on an aircraft care and somebody takes over the aircraft
Speaker:care and he's like the one guy that is able to fight everybody.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And it's like really bad movie, but I had to say under siege.
Speaker:So
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That makes sense.
Speaker:And obviously if we have forgotten anything.
Speaker:As we are going through this or you think that we missed something on our top list,
Speaker:please comment below or shoot us an email.
Speaker:Or, I know that
Speaker:movie Battleship is pretty good.
Speaker:I know that movie with Tom Hanks in it.
Speaker:Oh, Greyhound.
Speaker:We still haven't, I still haven't watched that.
Speaker:I need to watch that,
Speaker:but I've heard those two are really good as well.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Alright, so now we're moving on to our top five Navy characters, right?
Speaker:So these are entertainment characters and some of them may intermingle
Speaker:with some of our, our top movies.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Number one that I had.
Speaker:Lieutenant Pete Maverick Mitchell, of course Ca had you can't beat Top Gun.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:Like I was gonna put it's not fair.
Speaker:Top gun one and two for one and two.
Speaker:Like both of those movies are so good
Speaker:and they have like other Iceman Goose, right?
Speaker:There's just it's synonymous with these characters.
Speaker:It's, it's
Speaker:the pinnacle of Navy movies in my, in my opinion.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Number two, chief Petty Officer, Casey Rebeck, under Siege.
Speaker:He's the Navy Seal.
Speaker:I had to put 'em on there Mostly just because, like for, for when you
Speaker:get Navy characters and these Aren.
Speaker:Like totally in order.
Speaker:I didn't, I didn't really arrange 'em in order, but I wanted
Speaker:to put five of 'em out there.
Speaker:To me it's just kind of like, it's the machismo, it's the
Speaker:cheesy Steven Segal era.
Speaker:I think that was probably like his, probably his most popular movie.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Under Siege.
Speaker:But I, I, I mean, I, my favorite.
Speaker:I, I always say my favorite female who was in the military and depicted on
Speaker:in a movie is Ellen Ripley from Alien.
Speaker:And she is in the Interstellar Commerce Commission.
Speaker:She's a merchant Marine.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:And she's in the merchant, so that's Navy.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:Navy adjacent.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so she's considered a lieutenant first class.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:that's a good one.
Speaker:That's a good one.
Speaker:Alright, so next one I got is one you may not have expected.
Speaker:This is from NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Speaker:So he was a Marine, I
Speaker:like Gibbs,
Speaker:but he's working for NCIS.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I thought that was actually a good one when I was looking around, I was
Speaker:like, ah, what are some good ideas?
Speaker:I don't wanna do totally obvious ones.
Speaker:And I thought Gibbs from NCIS was actually a pretty good one.
Speaker:'cause he plays the, the Steady as a rock.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Lead investigator for NCIS, the TV show if nobody's ever seen it.
Speaker:But again, very much a Navy show because NCIS is Navy naval Criminal.
Speaker:Criminal investigative service.
Speaker:Uhhuh.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah yes.
Speaker:Another Navy character right there.
Speaker:Well, how about.
Speaker:Wonder Woman.
Speaker:So I did not have Wonder Woman on mine.
Speaker:So if you know anything about Wonder Woman, you know that her day job is
Speaker:the US Navy, and in the TV show she is first, I think a petty officer o os Okay.
Speaker:Operation specialist.
Speaker:And then she becomes a lieutenant commander.
Speaker:It's still in Intel.
Speaker:So basically she's able to see all the intelligence of America
Speaker:and know where she's needed.
Speaker:She switches to Wonder Woman and
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:How interesting.
Speaker:There'll be dolls sold of her with the Navy uniform as well,
Speaker:so I always think it's great that Wonder Woman was in the Navy.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:That's, that's another good one.
Speaker:So number four on my list, Lieutenant Daniel C. Again, from a few Good Men, I, I
Speaker:mean Tom Cruise, he just kills it, right?
Speaker:His, his character and, and that's one of the things that I think they did really
Speaker:well in a few Good Men was it doesn't.
Speaker:Anybody that comes to the Navy, whether you come in straight outta college
Speaker:or you're in the workforce for, for a few years and you have your degree
Speaker:and then you come in and you become an officer, you were put in charge and
Speaker:you were responsible for a lot more than typically a 22-year-old in the
Speaker:workforce would be my very first job.
Speaker:I had 45 people working for me and I was 22.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's why I said they consider you a lawyer.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was, it's, it's crazy.
Speaker:And so that's one of the things that I think they did so well
Speaker:with A few Good Men is showing.
Speaker:One, obviously he was this like brilliant lawyer, but two, how much he
Speaker:was responsible for, he'd been in the Navy for all of what, like two years?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I think he was a was he a JG or was he a lieutenant?
Speaker:I think he was a jg.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And she
Speaker:was a lieutenant commander.
Speaker:She was lieutenant commander.
Speaker:And, and so I, that was one thing that I think they showed
Speaker:they, that was done well.
Speaker:And I don't know if that was intentional, but I think it's, it, it
Speaker:is somewhat reflective of my experience.
Speaker:Of your experience.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You come in.
Speaker:You're dealing with people issues and life issues.
Speaker:I had sailors that were getting pregnant, getting arrested and
Speaker:all this, all this crazy stuff that, that sailors do, you know?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:But I don't see GI Jane, so Demi Moore isn't a few good men.
Speaker:And Demi Moore, I think plays a, a great female naval officer and a few good men.
Speaker:I think she nails it.
Speaker:And then I remember her playing the first female candidate of Navy SEAL training.
Speaker:I forgot about that.
Speaker:Lieutenant Jordan O'Neill.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I went to the movies.
Speaker:I went to see that and I think it came out 1997.
Speaker:But I really liked Demi Moore.
Speaker:Got in really good shape for this movie.
Speaker:And it really depicts her holding her own in it.
Speaker:I, and I really did enjoy it.
Speaker:I watched it when it first came out and I, I liked it.
Speaker:And, and people still refer to GI Jane, what's the problem
Speaker:with GI Jane is a gi is not.
Speaker:Navy.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:She's a Navy officer that they've chosen to go into this training.
Speaker:But the GIJ acronym is an Army acronym, so it confuses you when
Speaker:you hear the movie title and
Speaker:yeah, that, that's a good one.
Speaker:That's one I actually hadn't thought of.
Speaker:And last but certainly not least, is Popeye the Sailor man.
Speaker:So his first appearance, and I actually, I didn't realize Popeye,
Speaker:the character was this old.
Speaker:He appeared on January 17th, 1929 as a minor character in a long
Speaker:running comic strip thimble theater.
Speaker:So Popeye the sailor man.
Speaker:I mean, there's people who get tattoos of Popeye and it's
Speaker:and he, and we looked it up.
Speaker:He actually is supposed to be a United States Navy sailor.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So he is not just some, some sailor out there doing whatever.
Speaker:He's supposed to be a US Navy sailor.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But you missed, you missed one that Magnum pi.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Thomas Magnum.
Speaker:So if you watch Magnum, he's supposed to be a seal.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:In the very first pilot episode, he's intelligence.
Speaker:He's an intelligence officer who's got out of the Navy and stays in Pearl
Speaker:Harbor, stays in Hawaii, becomes a pi.
Speaker:But as the show goes on and it gets better and they wanna make him, I think, cooler.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He becomes a Navy Seal
Speaker:and then they show his like flashbacks to Vietnam and he's a frog man and stuff,
Speaker:and he's wearing the little shorts.
Speaker:Oh, I to, I don't know how I missed that one.
Speaker:That would actually, that would, he would absolutely end up on this list.
Speaker:Thomas Magnum is in the US Navy.
Speaker:That's
Speaker:totally Navy character.
Speaker:So I did have some honorable mentions for top five Navy characters.
Speaker:Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rab Jr. From the TV show.
Speaker:Jag.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:I thought I thought that was a good one.
Speaker:That was a semi-popular show.
Speaker:It was.
Speaker:And I had to go back to down Periscope with Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge.
Speaker:We, we talked about him earlier and I just thought he was just
Speaker:such a, just such a fun character.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And I have to give a little honorable mention to Jack Ryan
Speaker:because he's a Marine, but he.
Speaker:Worked at the Naval Academy.
Speaker:Yeah, so he taught history.
Speaker:The character of Jack Ryan is, has a doctorate in history.
Speaker:They changed it to economics for this later version of him, but he's
Speaker:a, he's a historian and they filmed Patriot games in, 1991 at the Academy,
Speaker:again, we go there on the channel to that gate where he's chased out
Speaker:by the guy and the guard actually shoots him from the Naval Academy.
Speaker:So I just love that scene.
Speaker:They don't really use that gate as much anymore, but jack Ryan.
Speaker:It's an honor mention.
Speaker:Yeah, and, and it's a funny thing, right?
Speaker:So that was you.
Speaker:I was there for four years.
Speaker:It's my alma mater.
Speaker:That gate, we used to use it all the time, Hey, I'm stumbling in and out,
Speaker:on the weekends and stuff like that.
Speaker:As gate three, that's what they call gate three.
Speaker:That's where they filmed right there.
Speaker:That was, they actually did film it right there, at least for
Speaker:that, that part of the movie.
Speaker:We charted our, currents of history by looking back at the top five Navy moments.
Speaker:Which saw the fleet evolve from wooden frigates to nuclear titans.
Speaker:We had some fun debating our picks on the top five Navy movies.
Speaker:And of course the unforgettable top five Navy characters
Speaker:that stand the test of time.
Speaker:Whether you agree with our take on Top Gun or you think we missed a key
Speaker:historical battle, we wanna hear from you.
Speaker:So go Navy, happy birthday, and we'll talk to you guys next time.
Speaker:Go Navy.
Speaker:Beat Army.
