The Last Ship (TV Series) Achilles (2015) User Reviews

Ship vs Submarine

[tenshi_ippikiookami · 8/10 · 26 December 2016]

In case of doubt, you cannot go wrong with a little bit of ship vs submarine tension. "Achilles", the fifth episode of this vastly improved second season of "The Last Ship" goes for the tension on and under water, and offers another very entertaining episode.

After the confrontation on the medical ship, now Chandler and friends have discovered a new problem in their lives: the all-around- European-with-a-British-accent submarine. Cue an episode where both teams try to discover where the other is. Will the submarine destroy the ship? Can Slattery bring the truth out of their prisoner? What is actually the purpose of the people in the submarine?

There are a lot of things happening in the episode, even if not much seems to be going on. It is a slow burner of an episode, raising the tension slowly and keeping the viewers on their toes. Everyone involved does a great job, even if it is a change of pace if we compare with previous episodes. Which may be a positive, as it makes the show a little bit more varied. The new 'bad people' seem to be molded on the we-are-the-chosen-ones model, and even if they do not seem threatening enough right now, and a little bit impersonal, they help the plot keep chugging along.

"Achilles" offers tension, action and interesting plot developments. How will the people on the ship overcome this new enemy? "The Last Ship" seems to be on the right course...

Entertaining... BUT

[CzyboutFlix · 8/10 · 16 August 2021]

As a retired sailor I like this show. Binge watching with Hulu. Why didn't they TRY to make the combat more real? Damn sub has a bearing on the destroyer. Going quiet? 4 knots guarantees something to track. Love the drama but hate the storytelling. As soon as the destroyer has a position on the sub, it launches a helo to acquire, harass and destroy the sub before it has a firing solution on the destroyer. That's why a destroyer has helo's! OBTW...it takes months of training together for a crew to be skilled at fighting a sub! Really? Why is it that Russians and now Brit sailors go rouge?!

Don't let me forget...sub commander said, arm the torpedoes before they are in the launch tubes!

Whole episode is just wrong!

[bill-2158 · 1/10 · 8 August 2023]

If I wrote down everything wrong with this episode, it would be longer than the script. I read some other reviews that echo my feelings about what's wrong with this episode, so I'll just highlight a few things. I should also mention that I served over 4 years on an anti-submarine warfare ship.

They have an ensign manning the sonar gear? An ensign is the lowest rank officer in the U. S. Navy. He really has no formal raining in any equipment aboard ship. He rotates from department to department every 6 months just to get familiar with all the workings of a ship.

The ship has to have some sonar techs - enlisted personnel that train for months, if not years, on sonar equipment. The ship hasn't lost so much of their crew that every sonar tech is gone. Having an ensign instead of a sonar tech run the sonar gear is not even a distinct possibility unless you are trying to commit suicide. Total nonsense.

They mention their helicopter. Helicopters aboard a ship like this are designed for anti-submarine warfare. They would have launched the helo and prosecuted the sub while the sub was too far away from the ship to be a threat. That's the whole point of the helo, and it's standard procedure.

Finally, the whole thing about "Quiet Level Whatever". More nonsense. Surface ships don't do this. Someone watched too many World War 2 submarine movies. Even a ship travelling 4 knots is going to make a heck of a lot more noise than someone dropping a small knife in the galley. Hmmm. Let's think about this. 4 General Electric Gas Turbines (jet engines) powering the ship, and all its associated electrical gear and whatever is needed to keep the lights on versus a knife dropping? It's the biggest insult to an average person's intelligence yet.

While I enjoy shows about the navy, sometimes the garbage gets too much. I can't watch any more of this episode right now. Time for bed, and maybe I can get through this tomorrow. I'll keep watching the show, just for the nostalgia value for me, and to catch glimpses of things they don't screw up, but it's coming at a price!