A warrior without a war, Lt. Col. "Bull" Meechum, a pilot also known as "The Great Santini" to his fellow Marines, moves his family to the military-base town of Beaufort, South Carolina in peacetime 1962. His wife Lillian is loyal and docile, tolerant of Meechum's temper and drinking. Their teenaged kids, Ben and Mary Anne, are accustomed to his stern discipline and behave accordingly, while adapting to their new town and school.
Gunnery Sergeant Burns is in charge of the Marine Security Guard detachment at a United States embassy in the Middle East. When terrorists attack the compound, taking hostages, Burns becomes a one-man Marine Corps in an attempt to rescue the hostages and kill the terrorists.
The movie opens in the Caribbean, on the Island of San Moreno, where a trio of important looking men (a Chinese militant, a Russian General, and a European businessman) are meeting with the island's governor. After paying him a suitcase full of money for a special operation, the three men are joined, via helicopter, by Major Vladakov (Tim Curry), the second best terrorist in the world, who will be in charge of the operation. This entire event is witnessed by a young boy named Roberto who takes pictures of the governor, the Major, and his men.
John Wayne stars as U.S. Navy Captain Rockwell "Rock" Torrey, a divorced "second generation Navy" son of a career Chief Petty Officer. A Naval Academy graduate and career officer, Torrey is removed from command of his heavy cruiser for "throwing away the book" when pursuing the enemy and then being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Kirk Douglas portrays Torrey's executive officer, Commander (later Captain) Paul Eddington, a wayward sort of career officer who has resigned as a naval aviator and returned to the surface navy because of an unhappy marriage. His wife's numerous affairs and drunken escapades have become the talk of Honolulu and her death during the Pearl Harbor attack—in the company of an Army Air Corps Officer (Hugh O'Brian), with whom she had just had a wild fling on a local beach—drives Eddington into a bar brawl with a group of other Army Air Corps officers, a subsequent stint in the Pearl Harbor brig, and exile as the "... officer in charge of piers and warehouses ..." in what he calls a "backwater island purgatory.
As three sailors – Gabey, Chip, and Ozzie – begin their shore leave, Gabey falls in love with the picture of "Miss Turnstiles", who is actually Ivy Smith. The sailors race around New York attempting to find her in the brief period they have ("New York, New York").
After meeting in the Navy recruiting line, Al Crowthers (Dean Martin) and Melvin Jones (Jerry Lewis) become friends. Al has tried to enlist before, 11 times, but was always rejected because of a bad knee. However, he keeps trying so that he can impress women (including Betty Hutton in a cameo role as "Hetty Button"). Melvin, meanwhile, is allergic to women's cosmetics and his doctor prescribed ocean travel, so he decided to join the Navy as this was the only way he could afford to follow doctor's orders.
Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown (Abbott and Costello) are sidewalk peddlers who hawk neckties out of a suitcase. They are chased by a cop and duck into a movie theater, not realizing that it is now being used as an Army Recruitment Center. Believing that they are signing up for theater prizes, they end up enlisting instead.
Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor) is assigned to a dangerous mission in testing a new bomber, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. The perilous assignment has caused his wife Lucy (Eleanor Parker) to worry for his life and whether their marriage can survive the constant separations.
During the last days of the Vietnam War, USAF Lieutenant Colonel Iceal E. "Gene" Hambleton (Gene Hackman) call sign BAT-21 Bravo, is flying on board a EB-66C electronic warfare aircraft, engaged in electronic countermeasures preparatory to a major bombing strike. Without warning, a number of SA-2 Guideline surface to air missiles are launched from South Vietnam, targeting their aircraft. A massive SAM explosion tears off the tail and Hambleton, in the navigator's position, ejects as the sole survivor of the six-man crew.
John J. Baggs (James Caan) a peacetime sailor, and a WWII veteran, checks into the Naval base's medical facility for treatment. After he gets a clean bill of health, he finds out that he is unable to get paid or receive new orders because somehow the U.S. Navy has lost his file. While they continue to search for his lost file, he is able to come and go from the base until curfew with his "Cinderella Liberty" pass issued by the medical facility.
In 1943, at the Ministry of Information in London, war correspondents Elmer "Brockie" Brockhurst (Charles Bickford) and James Carwood (John Ridgely) of United News attend the daily briefing on bombing missions. While the RAF representative announces light losses, the PRO of the Eighth Air Force causes grumbling when his report reveals a record 48 bombers shot down bombing an undisclosed industrial target. Carwood questions whether any target could be worth such losses, but Brockhurst retorts that the U.S. 5th Bomb Division commander, Brig. Gen. "Casey" Dennis (Clark Gable), loves the war. Brockhurst travels to the base of the 32nd Bomb Group, where Dennis has his headquarters, and observes B-17s taking off on another major strike. He tries to milk information about the arrest of a decorated (and highly publicized) pilot, Captain Jenks, from T/Sgt. Evans (Van Johnson), an assistant in Dennis's office, but Evans cordially rebuffs him.
C'est l'histoire de l'USS « Belinda », lancé en 1943 avec le commandant Hawks et le capitaine MacDougall, comme commandants de bord. Malgré des mésententes, les deux parviennent à réaliser leur voyage d'essai, et partent enfin au combat. Malgré une incompétence qui tend à s'améliorer, l'équipe demeure loin d'être parfaite quand ils passent à l'action en envoyant leurs Marines sur la tête de pont.
The film's opening credits state that the screenplay was written by W.R. Burnett and Frank Butler "From the Records of The United States Marine Corps", and includes many Marine Corps and military advisers. It also states that "In this picture, the action at Wake Island has been recorded as accurately as possible. However, the names of the characters are fictional and any similarity to the personal characteristics of the officers and men of the detachment is not intended." This is likely because the actual events were unfolding during the production of the film, and names were being protected.
Following World War II, an entire destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Kornblatt, has mysteriously gone missing. Lieutenant John Paul Steckler VII (Jerry Lewis), the last of a long line of good-natured but goofing-up US Navy officers, was tasked with guiding the Kornblatt to its decommission, but somehow the ship disappeared on its home journey without a trace. Now, with a $4 billion appropriation at stake, Congressman Mandeville (Gale Gordon) refuses to approve the funds until the Kornblatt is recovered; and Steckler's former superior, Vice Admiral Bludde (Robert Middleton), who has been trying to sugarcoat this embarrassing incidence, has no other choice but to comply.
U.S. Navy Lieutenant, junior grade John F. Kennedy (Cliff Robertson) uses his family's influence to get himself assigned to the fighting in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Theater during World War II, much to the surprise of Commander C.R. Ritchie (James Gregory). Kennedy lobbies for command of a PT Boat, and is assigned to the "109", a badly damaged boat that is in dire need of repair and overhaul. Initially, Ritchie seems to regard the young, inexperienced Kennedy as something of a lightweight, but his enthusiasm to build a crew and refurbish the "109" to operational status eventually earns Ritchie's grudging respect. The crew includes Kennedy's executive officer, Ensign Leonard J. Thom (Ty Hardin), and sailors "Bucky" Harris (Robert Blake) and Edmund Drewitch (Norman Fell).