Factual error: The dead Royal Navy submarine captain wears a beret. British submarine captains still wear the traditional submarine captain's white-topped peaked cap if they wear headgear at all. His cap badge also features the king's crown, which has not been worn since George VI's death in 1952, instead of the current queen's crown.
Factual error: The Royal Australian Navy special forces operator Wolf Taylor is a 'senior chief'. There is no such rank as senior chief petty officer in the RAN. The two most senior non-commissioned ranks are chief petty officer and warrant officer (the latter a non-commissioned rank and not the same as an American WO).
Factual error: 1. Why wasn't Prairie/Masker operating all the time they knew a sub was out there? That's SOP for the US Navy. 2. Spearfish torpedoes are homing torpedoes. They wouldn't just shoot by on each side of the ship, but if they did, they'd turn around and pursue their target until they ran out of fuel. 3. Why didn't the ship employ countermeasures when the sub launched torpedoes? A noisemaker, a nixie - Navy ships don't just cross their fingers and hope the torpedoes miss.
Factual error: Sean, a member of the Royal Navy, refers to one of his own officers as a "Lootenant"; no British serviceman would ever use this American pronunciation, we pronounce it "Leftenant".
Factual error: Sean says he was the coxswain on HMS Achilles. However, in the previous episode's flashback to the beginning of the red flu outbreak when Achilles was still in operation he was shown wearing lieutenant's rank insignia. The coxswain is the senior rating aboard a Royal Navy submarine and holds the rank of chief petty officer or warrant officer; he is certainly not a commissioned officer.
Factual error: Astute class submarines do not carry ballistic missiles, much less 26 of them. (An Ohio-class, by comparison, carries 24).
Continuity mistake: Chandler is reviewing the President's paperwork and finds the manifests which brought his wife and daughters from Washington (document dated 07-05-13) and his son from Detroit (document dated 08-02-13). He then checks the computer for casualty figures in Michigan where the son was originally from (dated 8/4/14-onwards). So the plague hit in early August 2014, but the documents show the family leaving their home a full year earlier. This is not a plot issue (no, they did not fly out a year prior to the plague), but rather a prop-maker error. (00:28:00)
Factual error: In scenes from the oil rig there are shots that show the shore line. This oil rig is supposed to be offshore of Louisiana. However, mountains can be seen in the shots of the shoreline. There are no mountains in Louisiana.
Factual error: The ship sails up the Mississippi river to St Louis. It needs a minimum water depth of 31ft of water. The water depth at St Louis is approx 20ft, so it would run aground. The ship needs 55 meters to clear the mast. Interstate 255 bridge south of St Louis is a fixed bridge with only 27 meters of clearance above the river, so the ship could not pass. Note that New Orleans is the port for Ocean going ships with depths to 200 ft.
Factual error: Commander Garnett, previously the chief engineer, becomes executive officer and starts wearing the line officers' star above her rank rings. This does not happen. An engineer is not trained to command a ship.
Continuity mistake: In the previous episode, Doc Rios says he can hardly see anything without his glasses. In this episode, still without his glasses, he looks out of the hut window and describes the compound beyond in detail.
Plot hole: Chandler chooses Granderson as his XO over Cameron Burk, partly because Burk made an error of judgement and partly as Granderson has been with him since the beginning. However, he completely overlooks the navigator, Lt Mejia, who is a highly competent officer who has also been with him since the beginning and has considerable seniority over Granderson (but is a recurring character as opposed to being on the main cast). While much is made of Burk being demoted, nobody says a word about Mejia being passed over.
Continuity mistake: They are in a minefield. The map shows it's between a bunch of islands or small landmasses. All the dialogues and maps reflect this, but the visuals show open sea.
In the Dark - S3-E7
Factual error: "When we reach the States you will be charged with War Crimes and prosecuted to the full extent of the law." Despite a lot of assumptions, the USA is the only major power to have opted out of this convention. You cannot be charged with "War Crimes" in the USA. (00:05:55)
Sea Change - S3-E8
Factual error: They have EOTech or similar holographic sights mounted on their rifles, but "scope in" with a night vision sniper rifle scope of some kind to take out the two targets. The EOTech holographic sights are not night vision, nor have the magnification and reticle that was used in the show. (00:17:50)
Continuity mistake: After season 1, then Captain Chandler is shows with a Silver Star Medal. But in season 5 he does not have it any more. Considering his status in overall and the fact that he has not lost medals/awards that are considered higher, his Silver Star would not be revoked from him.
