Factual error: At the very start of the movie, when they zoom in a planet that is "too cold" the temperature of the planet is shown as -314 C. The maximum negative temperature is 273.15 C, which would be absolute zero. Also when zoomed in, the further right in the screen, the colder it gets, a maximum of -415 C can be seen. (00:01:44)
Factual error: When the USS John Paul Johns sinks and the lead characters are climbing onto the flight deck, the twin helicopter hangar can be seen behind. The ship is a early Flight 1 Arleigh Burke class DDG and lacks the hangars that were only introduced with Flight IIA. (01:35:15)
Factual error: At the Award Ceremony, Alex is announced as a Lt Commander, but he is wearing Lieutenant's stripes on his shoulder. (01:57:22)
Suggested correction: It was a spot promotion that he didn't know he was getting. The Admiral called him LCDR to let him know he was getting promoted.
Factual error: After the Missouri knocks the shield down, the admiral orders all aircraft launched, but the flight deck is shown in sailing transport mode, not flight readiness. It would have taken an hour or more to clear the deck and launch.
Suggested correction: It's a non issue, it was a massive international naval exercise, Good chance of more than one carrier participating. In fact, every picture of an actual rimpac exercise has multiple carriers visible. Just because 1 carrier isn't in flight readiness mode doesn't mean that others aren't. Might explain why he ordered every plane in the air but there's what? Only 3 that actually save Mighty Mo.
True there may been more carriers but you are being attacked and invaded no flag officer would leave his deck cluttered they would be at battle stations for sure.
Factual error: With about 20 minutes left in the movie, after they show them carrying the shell to the 16" gun, they show the gun barrel being raised to firing position and then being loaded and then fired. The Iowa class battleships 16" guns can only be loaded in the down position.
Factual error: Landsat 7 is not a communications satellite. Landsat 7 is an earth resources satellite. It takes pictures of the earth and then sends them back to be analyzed. It wouldn't have the capability of aiming at and broadcasting to a distant star.
Factual error: Gliese 581 D in the Gliese 581 solar system, is Planet G, which is 20+ light years from Earth, which means it takes 20 years, not 6 years, for them to receive the message.
Factual error: When Alex Hopper is being tasered, and arrested for robbing the convenience store, you can see a billboard in the background. However, billboards are illegal in Hawaii, which means the scene must have been shot elsewhere.
Factual error: During the ITV News "UFO Landing Confirmed" breaking news scene, the lower caption shows the text "Amateur footage confirms rumors". ITV News is a British news network and would spell 'rumors' as 'rumours'.
Factual error: By the time the survivors of the JPJ arrive on board the USS Missouri, there are less than 3 hours before the satellite is in position. When lighting off cold boilers, it takes longer than that to get steam up, yet within minutes the bridge is informed that they have steam in all 8 boilers. If it was that easy, all the battleships at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 could have gotten underway immediately.
Factual error: How does the main hero Lieutenant Alex Hopper even get into the Navy as an officer in the first place with a felony breaking and entering on his record? You need at least a Secret clearance and a good moral background to commission as an officer, neither of which would be something Alex can get with a felony on his record.
Suggested correction: He was enlisted prior to becoming an officer. You can get a waiver for a lot of things in the Navy, especially with a good record as enlisted.
This entry was already previously corrected for the same reason (arguing that Alex got a criminal waiver) and returned to being a mistake after more details were submitted. The issue isn't joining the Navy; it's being granted a security clearance required for commissioning as an officer with the felony on his record. It may have eventually been possible for him to get a waiver to commission after an extended period of time, but not within the movie's timeframe between his brother ordering him to join in 2005 and the start of the 2012 portion of the movie showing him already being a lieutenant long enough to be eligible for promotion to lieutenant commander at the end of the movie. Even if we assume they ignored the minimum time requirements to promote to lieutenant commander as a reward for his heroism, there's still the matter of how long he would have needed to be an officer to get to lieutenant in the first place prior to the invasion.
You can get felonies reduced to misdemeanors after completion of things like probation or several years of good conduct in the military.
While it is true that some felonies can be reduced after meeting certain conditions put in place by the court, that doesn't change the fact that the original conviction would be what the military would look at when determining whether or not to give him the security clearance he needed to apply to be an officer. Assuming he joined immediately after he was arrested (which in itself is nearly impossible; while you can get a criminal waiver to join after you complete your sentence, joining the military in lieu of going to jail isn't something the military allowed since after the Vietnam War), that still gives him less than seven years to do his enlisted time, get waivers approved to get a clearance with a felony conviction, go to OCS, and get promoted to O-3 all before the invasion.
Factual error: Throughout the movie, Hopper is wearing both the silver and gold ESWS (Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist) and SWO (Surface Warfare Officer) pins on his uniform at the same time. While it is possible to qualify both of these (one while enlisted, and the other after becoming an officer) you would never wear both of them at the same time. The officer's pin supersedes the silver pin.
Factual error: When the alien ship crashes into Hong Kong's Bank of China building, flaming debris can be seen flying past the statue of the Big Buddha, which was also established in an earlier shot as being located just behind the financial area of the city, Central. In reality, the Big Buddha is nowhere NEAR Central, out of view of the Peak, and not even located on Hong Kong island - but on Lantau island, to the west. The Big Buddha is also not included in the Hong Kong city skyline.
Factual error: The first time the film displays the name USS John Paul Jones during the RIMPAC exercise it is shown as a destroyer with the hull number 65 (DDG-65 is USS Benfold) instead of 53.
Factual error: Albeit needed cinematically, the satellite station is not projecting beams of light, they are transmitting sound.
Factual error: The USS Missouri is a 68-year-old museum ship. Only a few museum ships are still able to sail under their own power. The USS Missouri, however, is not one of them, and could never have left port. There is no fuel on board, corrosion has done serious damage to the rotor blades and controls, and if one was to try and refire the boilers, they would surely explode. Also, there is no ammunition on board, plus all controls have been stripped, and all tubes and barrels blocked to prevent dirt from damaging them. Therefore, it cannot ever fire a shot again. Though it was renovated in 2010, it was mostly to prevent it from rusting away and sinking.
Factual error: In the scene where the alien is in the engine room, it shows the alien scan an exposed gas turbine engine. The gas turbine engines on a US Navy ship are not exposed, they're encased inside a module (big steel box) so in the event of a fire they can be easily contained with HALON.
Factual error: Each turret on an Iowa-class battleship required a crew of 94 to load and fire two salvos a minute. The makeshift crew, including former Missouri sailors (mostly septuagenarians) were equaling that rate of fire with a half dozen men.
Factual error: Loading the projectiles and powder in the 16 inch rifles is done using a ram. The projectiles seem to just glide in on their own.
Factual error: There is a shot depicting the crew physically carrying a large shell from the rear turret of the Missouri to one of the forward turrets. That shell is supposed to be a 16" High Explosive shell which is also the lightest shell fired by the main battery. Those shells were roughly 5 feet in length and weighed 1,900 pounds and yet we see one being shoulder-carried by 6 men. They are also not utilizing the equipment designed for the purpose of moving these shells.
