Corporal Miller: Sir, I've inspected this boat, and I think you ought to know that I can't swim.
Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby raaf: First, you've got that bloody old fortress on top of that bloody cliff. Then you've got the bloody cliff overhang. You can't even see the bloody cave, let alone the bloody guns. And anyway, we haven't got a bloody bomb big enough to smash that bloody rock. And that's the bloody truth, sir.
Corporal Miller: Well, right now I say to hell with the job! I've been on a hundred jobs and not one of them's altered the course of the war! I don't care about the war anymore, I care about Roy.
Capt. Keith Mallory: And if Turkey comes into the war on the wrong side?
Corporal Miller: So what? Let the whole bloody world come in and blow itself to pieces, that's what it deserves.
Suggested correction: The guns are firing across a strait. A strait is a "narrow passage." Since the targets must appear at a limited range, the guns only need a limited elevation angle.
Noman ★
Watch the film again. The guns are facing the open sea. There is no land visible anywhere behind the ships. If that's a strait, it's a very, very wide one.
The mission given says the guns are guarding a strait. The last shot of the six destroyers shows land behind them on the opposite side of the strait.
Noman ★
Other summaries explain that the strait is only deep enough for the ships at the place which matches the guns' range. So ships could not take advantage of further away or closer in.
Then what are the dark shapes rising out of the sea on the far side of the ships. If they are not islands, what are they?
Noman ★
Suggested correction: That the gun carriages are supposedly set on rails is not correct. In the novel template, as well as in the film, it is shown that the guns were installed on turntables. And as for their variable angles of fire - it could be due to (fictional) modifications.
Daniel4646