Highest-Rated Movies about 'Naval Warfare', Sort by Popularity

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Billy Budd (1962), The Caine Mutiny (1954), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), The Bedford Incident (1965), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), 'A' gai wak (1983), Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Naval Warfare movies.

#1. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Storyline: In 1805, aboard the H.M.S. Surprise, the brash Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and his trusted friend, the ship's scholarly surgeon, Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), are ordered to hunt down and capture a powerful French vessel off the South American coast. Though Napoleon is winning the war and the men and their crew face an onslaught of obstacles, including their own internal battles, "Lucky Jack" is determined that nothing will stop the Surprise from completing its mission.

Plot Keywords: captain, surgeon, sailor, confident, spirited, tense, ship ...

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#2. Billy Budd (1962)

Storyline: H.M.S. Avenger is headed into battle against the French fleet during the Napoleonic Wars, and the dark shadow of two recent mutinies in the English fleet concern Captain Vere (Sir Peter Ustinov). He relies on his cruel and often sadistic Master-at-Arms John Claggert (Robert Ryan) to maintain what he believes to be tenuous order and discipline aboard the ship. When a new seaman, Billy Budd (Terence Stamp), is pressed into service from a passing merchantman, his innocent, happy-go-lucky attitude quickly endears him to his messmates as well as the ship's officers. However, his charismatic naivete seems to bother Claggert, whose perverse depravity makes him resent Billy's good-natured purity, especially after the teenager's promotion to fore-top Captain. The mean-spirited Claggert unfairly plots to put him on report and ultimately perjures himself when he accuses Billy of conspiring to mutiny.—Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)

Plot Keywords: captain, seaman, military officer, assistant, lieutenant, young man, tense ...

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#3. The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Storyline: During the World War II, the crew of a small insignificant ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet experience an event unlike any event ever experienced by the United States Navy. A Ship's Captain is removed from command by his Executive Officer in an apparent outright act of mutiny. As the trial of the mutineers unfold, it is learned that the Captain of the ship was mentally unstable, perhaps even insane. The Navy must decide if the Caine Mutiny was a criminal act, or an act of courage to save a ship from destruction at the hands of her Captain?

Plot Keywords: captain, ensign, lawyer, solemn, gripping, thrilling, ship ...

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#4. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Storyline: This dramatic retelling of the Pearl Harbor attack details everything in the days that led up to that tragic moment in American history. As United States and Japanese relations strain over the U.S. embargo of raw materials, Air Staff Officer Minoru Genda (Tatsuya Mihashi) plans the preemptive strike against the United States. Although American intelligence agencies intercept Japanese communications hinting at the attack, they are unwilling to believe such a strike could ever occur on U.S. soil.

Plot Keywords: admiral, commander, ambassador, lieutenant commander, japanese soldier, politician, gripping ...

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#5. The Bedford Incident (1965)

Storyline: Richard Widmark plays a hardened cold-warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. Sidney Poitier is a reporter given permission to interview the captain during a routine patrol. Poitier gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub in the depths and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to the breaking point. This one's grim tension to the end.—KC Hunt <khunt@eng.morgan.edu>

Plot Keywords: reporter, naval officer, commodore, seaman, captain, tense, chilling ...

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#6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Storyline: In April 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, H.M.S. Surprise, a British frigate, is under the command of Captain Jack Aubrey. Aubrey and the Surprise's current orders are to track and capture or destroy a French privateer named Acheron. The Acheron is currently in the Atlantic off South America headed toward the Pacific in order to extend Napoleon's reach of the wars. This task will be a difficult one as Aubrey quickly learns in an initial battle with the Acheron that it is a bigger and faster ship than the Surprise, which puts the Surprise at a disadvantage. Aubrey's single-mindedness in this seemingly impossible pursuit puts him at odds with the Surprise's doctor and naturalist, Stephen Maturin, who is also Aubrey's most trusted advisor on board and closest friend. Facing other internal obstacles which have resulted in what they consider a string of bad luck, Aubrey ultimately uses Maturin's scientific exploits to figure out a way to achieve his and the ship's seemingly impossible goal.

Plot Keywords: captain, surgeon, sailor, confident, spirited, tense, ship ...

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#7. 'A' gai wak (1983)

Storyline: In late 19th Century Hong Kong the British may rule the land, but the pirates rule the waters. Reluctantly, the Coast Guard is given money to fight these pirates, but the pirates themselves have many contacts (that is, bribed officials) in the government, and seek to thwart the Coast Guard's efforts to eliminate them. One Coast Guard officer is Dragon Ma, who is determined that his beloved Coast Guard will not be made fools of.

Plot Keywords: naval officer, police chief, thief, gang leader, corrupt cop, cheeky, thrilling ...

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#8. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)

Storyline: In 1807, Captain Horatio Hornblower leads his ship the HMS Lydia on a perilous voyage around Cape Horn and into the Pacific. The men, even his officers, don't know exactly where he is leading them. England is at war with Napoleon and everyone wonders why they have been sent so far from the action. They eventually arrive on the Pacific coast of Central America where the HMS Lydia has been sent to arm Don Julian Alvarado, who is planning an attack against France's Spanish allies on the North American continent. The hope is that Alvarado's forces will require the French to divert some of their military resources to North American defense in the aid of their Spanish allies. He arrives to learn that a Spanish Galleon is en route and he no sooner captures it and hands it over to Alvarado that he learns the Spanish are now England's allies and he must take it from Alvarado. He also gets a very comely passenger in the form of Lady Barbara Wellesley, sister of the Duke of Wellington. The voyage is uneventful but Horatio and Barbara develop a deep affection for one another, despite that he is married and she is engaged. There are more battles ahead however for Hornblower and he finds himself under the command of Admiral Leighton, Barbara's new husband.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: captain, rear admiral, lady, rebel, enemy, sailor, spectacular ...

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#9. Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)

Storyline: The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger.—Kevin Ackley <kackley1@aol.com>

Plot Keywords: commander, military officer, sailor, enemy, thrilling, patriotic, submarine ...

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#10. Operation Petticoat (1959)

Storyline: A submarine newly commissioned is damaged in the opening days of WW II. A captain, looking for a command insists he can get it to a dockyard and captain it. Going slowly to this site, they find a stranded group of Army nurses and must take them aboard. How bad can it get? Trying to get a primer coat on the sub, they have to mix white and red in order to have enough. When forced to flee the dock during an air attack, they find themselves with the world's only Pink submarine, still with 5 women in the tight quarters of a submarine.

Plot Keywords: lieutenant commander, lieutenant, con artist, nurse, evacuee, charming, hilarious ...

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#11. Damn the Defiant! (1962)

Storyline: H.M.S. Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer Lieutenant Scott-Padget (Sir Dirk Bogarde) makes this difficult, and when Captain Crawford (Sir Alec Guinness) is disabled, the chance for violence increases.—Cleo <frede005@maroon.tc.umn.edu>

Plot Keywords: captain, lieutenant, cabin boy, sailor, tense, thrilling, ship ...

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#13. Top Gun (1986)

Storyline: Code-named "Maverick", Pete Mitchell, the impetuous daredevil Navy-pilot ace, is accepted into Miramar's elite Fighter School, also known as "Top Gun". There, as the impulsive pilot competes with the best of the best, not only will he meet Charlie, the flying school's curvaceous astrophysics instructor, but also the brilliant and highly competitive fellow student, "Iceman", with whom right from the start, he will engage in a reckless contest. As Maverick is haunted by his father's mysterious death, will he be able to suppress his wild nature to win the prestigious Top Gun Trophy?

Plot Keywords: pilot, naval officer, instructor, rival, lieutenant commander, wife, uplifting ...

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#14. Midway (1976)

Storyline: The summer of 1942 brought Naval stalemate to the Pacific as the American and Japanese fleets stood at even numbers each waiting for the other to begin a renewed offensive. "Midway" tells the story of this historic June battle where a Japanese carrier force, in an attempt to occupy Midway island and lure the American fleet to destruction, was meet valiently by US forces operating off of three aircraft carriers and numerous escort ships. It was the first battle in which naval air power was extensivly used, and at its conclusion the Japanese Carrier force had been completly destroyed which lead the way for the US 1943 and 44 offensives which would eventually bring the Pacific War to a close.

Plot Keywords: naval officer, admiral, captain, japanese soldier, pilot, gripping, tense ...

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#15. Rendezvous (1935)

Storyline: In 1917 Lt. Bill Gordon is headed for France when he meets and becomes friendly with Joel Carter, niece of the Asst. Secretary of War. Finding out that he is an expert on codes, she gets her uncle to cancel Bill's orders and has him reassigned to break enemy codes. In his new assignment he becomes involved with beautiful Russian spy Olivia Karloff, who is working for the Germans, and must juggle Joel's affection and his pursuit of Karloff's connections to retrieve a stolen code book.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>

Plot Keywords: reporter, officer, socialite, spy, girlfriend, lieutenant, melodramatic ...

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