Best Naval War Films
by rossd1909 | created - 16 Apr 2018 | updated - 8 months ago | Public.....And some TV dramas too! Only films I have watched are on the list, so a few might be missing to some.
If you like this, also check out my list of Top War Films - War Films
and for other sea based stuff see - Sea/Ocean Movies
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1. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D'Arcy
Votes: 237,862 | Gross: $93.93M
2. Das Boot (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
A German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 264,280 | Gross: $11.49M
3. The Cruel Sea (1953)
Approved | 126 min | Drama, War
The World War II adventures of a British convoy escort ship and its officers.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, John Stratton, Denholm Elliott
Votes: 5,407
4. Dunkirk (2017)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Drama, History
Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire, and France are surrounded by the German Army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy
Votes: 739,859 | Gross: $188.37M
5. San Demetrio London (1943)
Approved | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Rescue of the tanker MV San Demetrio by parts of her own crew after she had been set afire in the middle of the Atlantic by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and then had been abandoned.
Directors: Charles Frend, Robert Hamer | Stars: Arthur Young, Walter Fitzgerald, Ralph Michael, Neville Mapp
Votes: 537
6. Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956)
Not Rated | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the first major naval battle of World War II, the British Navy must find and destroy a powerful German warship.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Peter Finch, Ian Hunter
Votes: 4,865
7. Sink the Bismarck! (1960)
Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, History
The World War II story of the Royal Navy's effort to defeat Nazi Germany's most powerful warship.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Carl Möhner, Laurence Naismith
Votes: 8,308 | Gross: $6.54M
8. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
G | 144 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.
Directors: Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda, Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Jason Robards, Joseph Cotten
Votes: 37,204 | Gross: $29.55M
9. Convoy (1940)
78 min | Drama, War
A tale of the highs and lows of life protecting the vital convoys between America & England during WWII.
Director: Pen Tennyson | Stars: Clive Brook, John Clements, Edward Chapman, Judy Campbell
Votes: 440
10. Greyhound (2020)
PG-13 | 91 min | Action, Drama, History
Several months after the U.S. entry into World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy commander must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine wolf pack.
Director: Aaron Schneider | Stars: Tom Hanks, Elisabeth Shue, Stephen Graham, Matt Helm
Votes: 114,781
11. Glory at Sea (1952)
100 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In 1940, the Captain of an old Royal Navy destroyer struggles with his crew, as well as the Nazis.
Director: Compton Bennett | Stars: Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough, Sonny Tufts, James Donald
Votes: 757
12. Midway (2019)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of the Battle of Midway, told by the leaders and the sailors who fought it.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans
Votes: 94,431 | Gross: $56.85M
13. The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (1927)
107 min | Drama, War
Dramatic reconstruction of two 1914 naval battles off Coronel and the Falkland Islands.The first a defeat of the British by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee, the second a retaliation by the British under vice Admiral Sturdee.
Director: Walter Summers | Stars: Craighall Sherry, Hans von Slock, Roger Maxwell
Votes: 101
14. Damn the Defiant! (1962)
Approved | 101 min | Action, Drama, History
On the H.M.S. Defiant, during the French Revolutionary War, fair Captain Crawford is locked in a battle of wills against his cruel second-in-command Lieutenant Scott-Padget, whose heavy-handed command style pushes the crew to mutiny.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, Maurice Denham, Nigel Stock
Votes: 3,031
15. We Dive at Dawn (1943)
Not Rated | 98 min | Action, Drama, War
All leave is cancelled so that a British submarine can be sent after a new German warship. They chase it so far that they have no fuel to get home.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: John Mills, Louis Bradfield, Ronald Millar, Jack Watling
Votes: 1,700
16. In Which We Serve (1942)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, War
This "story of a ship", the British destroyer H.M.S. Torrin, is told in flashbacks by survivors as they cling to a life raft.
Directors: Noël Coward, David Lean | Stars: Noël Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson
Votes: 6,444 | Gross: $0.45M
17. Horatio Hornblower: The Duel (1998 TV Movie)
93 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Horatio Hornblower begins his naval career, but a deadly feud with a despicable mate is causing complications.
Director: Andrew Grieve | Stars: Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay, Dorian Healy, Michael Byrne
Votes: 6,060
18. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill
Votes: 214,691 | Gross: $122.01M
19. Western Approaches (1944)
83 min | Drama, War
A wartime film, made under the auspices of the Crown Film Unit, serving as a tribute to the Merchant Navy. During WWII, they kept the lifeline to America and the Commonwealth open so that ... See full summary »
Director: Pat Jackson | Stars: Eric Fullerton, Duncan MacKenzie, W. Kerr, Eric Baskeyfield
Votes: 157
20. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
PG-13 | 138 min | Drama, History, Thriller
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sam Spruell, Peter Stebbings, Christian Camargo
Votes: 67,392 | Gross: $35.17M
21. Sea of Fire (2007 TV Movie)
60 min | Documentary, War
The story of the HMS Coventry, which was bombed during the Falklands conflict and sunk in a mere 20 minutes. On 2nd April 1982 Argentinean troops invaded the Falkland Islands. The HMS ... See full summary »
Director: Ian Duncan | Stars: David Bark-Jones, Steve Chaplin, Robert Lowe, Alan Medcroft
Votes: 15
22. Crimson Tide (1995)
R | 116 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
On a U.S. nuclear missile sub, a young First Officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy Captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Matt Craven, George Dzundza
Votes: 123,280 | Gross: $91.40M
23. Das Boot (2018– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, War
An inexperienced U-boat crew has to survive a secret mission and a young German woman is torn between loyalty for her home country and the French resistance in this WWII drama.
Stars: Franz Dinda, Tom Wlaschiha, Rick Okon, Rainer Bock
Votes: 9,898
24. Battle Hell (1957)
Approved | 113 min | Drama, History, War
In 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, British warship H.M.S. Amethyst sails up the Yangtse river but on the return trip, finds its way blocked by a barrage of fire from the Communist Chinese shore batteries.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Richard Todd, William Hartnell, Akim Tamiroff, Donald Houston
Votes: 773
25. Above Us the Waves (1955)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, War
The attack by British submarines on the German battleship "Tirpitz" in a Norwegian fjord during World War II.
Director: Ralph Thomas | Stars: John Mills, John Gregson, Donald Sinden, James Robertson Justice
Votes: 1,630
26. The Enemy Below (1957)
Approved | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During WWII an American destroyer discovers a German U-boat, and in the ensuing duel the American captain must draw upon all his experience to defeat the equally experienced German commander.
Director: Dick Powell | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Curd Jürgens, David Hedison, Theodore Bikel
Votes: 12,251
27. The Bedford Incident (1965)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Thriller
An American destroyer Captain is determined to confront a Soviet submarine caught violating territorial waters. Perhaps too determined.
Director: James B. Harris | Stars: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam
Votes: 5,971
28. The Sand Pebbles (1966)
PG-13 | 182 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1926, a U.S. Naval engineer gets assigned to a gunboat on a rescue mission in war-torn China.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen
Votes: 16,427
29. Run Silent Run Deep (1958)
Approved | 93 min | Action, Drama, War
A U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden, Brad Dexter
Votes: 13,105
30. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
Not Rated | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty, Moultrie Kelsall
Votes: 7,509
31. Morituri (1965)
Approved | 123 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A war pacifist is blackmailed to pose as an SS officer and to disable the scuttling explosives on a freighter carrying rubber cargo to be captured by the Allies.
Director: Bernhard Wicki | Stars: Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard
Votes: 4,493
32. The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, War
In the North Sea in 1944, passengers of a downed Royal Air Force transport aircraft talk about their lives while awaiting rescue in their dinghy.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Michael Redgrave, Dirk Bogarde, Bonar Colleano, Jack Watling
Votes: 731
33. Against the Sun (2014)
PG | 100 min | Biography, Drama, War
A WWII pilot, bombardier, and radioman find themselves adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after being forced to ditch their plane during a scouting mission.
Director: Brian Peter Falk | Stars: Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel, Nadia Parra
Votes: 6,471
34. Lifeboat (1944)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, War
Several survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship in World War II find themselves in the same lifeboat with one of the crew members of the U-boat that sank their ship.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak, William Bendix
Votes: 31,169
35. Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
Not Rated | 178 min | Adventure, Drama, History
In 1787, British ship Bounty leaves Portsmouth to bring a cargo of bread-fruit from Tahiti but the savage on-board conditions imposed by Captain Bligh trigger a mutiny led by officer Fletcher Christian.
Directors: Lewis Milestone, Carol Reed, George Seaton | Stars: Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard, Richard Harris, Hugh Griffith
Votes: 17,879 | Gross: $13.68M
36. The Bounty (1984)
PG | 132 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Fed up with their Captain's harsh discipline, a sailing ship's crew decides to take action.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Edward Fox
Votes: 30,425 | Gross: $8.60M
37. Sailor of the King (1953)
Approved | 83 min | Action, Drama, Romance
In 1940, Canadian sailor Andrew Brown is prisoner on a battle damaged German raider and he plans to delay the raider's at-sea repairs until a British naval task-force can destroy it.
Director: Roy Boulting | Stars: Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Rennie, Wendy Hiller, Bernard Lee
Votes: 696
38. The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, War
During World War II, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them.
Director: José Ferrer | Stars: José Ferrer, Trevor Howard, Dora Bryan, Christopher Lee
Votes: 1,996
39. Midway (1976)
PG | 132 min | Action, Drama, History
A dramatization of the battle that was widely heralded as a turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
Director: Jack Smight | Stars: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford
Votes: 21,486
40. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, War
When a U.S. Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardises the ship, the first officer is urged to consider relieving him of command.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray
Votes: 29,885 | Gross: $21.75M
41. Black Sails (2014–2017)
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Follows Captain Flint and his pirates twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "Treasure Island."
Stars: Jessica Parker Kennedy, Toby Stephens, Hannah New, Zach McGowan
Votes: 113,300
42. The Admiral (2015)
TV-PG | 151 min | Action, Biography, Drama
When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by England, France, and Germany, and the country is on the brink of civil war, only one man can lead the country's strongest weapon, the Dutch fleet: Michiel de Ruyter.
Director: Roel Reiné | Stars: Frank Lammers, Sanne Langelaar, Barry Atsma, Lieke van Lexmond
Votes: 10,423
43. U-571 (2000)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, War
A German submarine is boarded by disguised American submariners trying to capture their Enigma cipher machine.
Director: Jonathan Mostow | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi
Votes: 87,387 | Gross: $77.09M