After some debate with other characters, Captain Yelland decides to change the course of history by actively defending Hawaii from the Japanese. An unusual storm propels the ship back in time to Decem- one day before the Japanese raid on the US fleet there. It's set on board the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, then steaming out of Pearl Harbor. At the time her main defensive armament was three Mk 25 BPDMS (Basic Point Defense Missile System) 8-tube RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile launchers, which were replaced with two Mk 29 launchers during the same refit.The Final Countdown is a 1980 science fiction film starring Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen. While one might expect to see Phalanx CIWS listed here, at the time the Nimitz did not yet mount any: her installations were added during her 1983-84 Complex Overhaul. In reality the 20mm shells fired by the M61 would have shredded the notoriously fragile Zero. That said however, the effects of the Vulcan on the Zero are unrealistically minor, causing a trail of smoke from the disabled plane which plunges into the ocean largely intact (save for turning into a model shortly before impact). Most shots are of aircraft from the VF-84 'Jolly Rogers' fighter squadron (disestablished in 1995) with their distinctive black tails with skull-and-crossbones markings, though some from VF-41 'Black Aces' (now VFA-41) also appear. Unlike the Zeroes in the film, the Tomcats were completely genuine, including their weaponry: the aircraft in the film are from two squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8). The M61 Vulcan appears as the secondary weapon of US Navy F-14A Tomcats and A-7E Corsairs in the film, one of them being used by a Tomcat to down one of the Japanese Zeroes during the dogfight scene. The drop tanks carried on their centerline also disappear and reappear during this sequence. This was a necessity for shots depicting gunfire prior to the advent of CGI since FAA regulations make it virtually impossible to fly a civilian-registered aircraft in US airspace with functioning weapons on board.Ī long shot of the two faux Zeros in flight, with no guns at all.

In flying sequences the SNJs alternate between having prop gun barrels mounted in their wings (usually when they are flying directly towards the camera) and no guns at all, while closeups show them firing prop Type 99 cannons, which are actually acetylene-firing mockups. This is historically inaccurate: no Japanese aircraft took off before the main strike force. Machine Guns Fake Type 99 CannonĪ pair of American-made North American T-6 Texan trainers (specifically, Navy SNJ variants) owned and operated by the Commemorative Air Force and mocked up to look like Japanese A6M 'Zero' fighters (also done in Tora! Tora! Tora!, footage from which actually appears in this film, and they also played P-47s in A Bridge Too Far) are seen attacking a civilian yacht, and later engaged by two F-14 Tomcats from the Nimitz. Note the famous bolt-insert replacing the forward assist. US Marines armed with MGC M16 replica assault rifles take the captured Zero pilot into custody. The following weapons were used in the film The Final Countdown: The final shot of the carrier returning to Pearl Harbor is actually the USS Kitty Hawk: this is because in real life the USS Nimitz was stationed in the Atlantic until 1987. Filming on the Nimitz was forced to wrap early due to the carrier being recalled for the ill-fated Operation Eagle Claw: pickup shots were filmed on several other vessels. Made with the cooperation of the United States Navy, the film is notable for being one of the first to feature actual F-14A Tomcats as well as filming carrier operations aboard the actual USS Nimitz: forty-eight of her then-serving crew are credited as extras, some with speaking roles. The cast included Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, and James Farentino. The Final Countdown is a 1980 science fiction film that follows the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz as they find themselves mysteriously transported back to December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and are faced with the question of whether or not to alter history.

The final countdown movie