The Final Countdown [1980]

In 1980, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is departing Naval Station Pearl Harbor for naval exercises in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The ship takes on a civilian observer — Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen) a Systems Analyst for Tideman Industries working as an efficiency expert for the U.S. Defense Department — on the orders of his reclusive employer, Mr. Tideman, whose secretive major defense contractor company designed and built the nuclear-powered warship.

Once at sea, the Nimitz encounters a mysterious electrically-charged storm-like vortex. While the ship passes through it, radar and other equipment become unresponsive and everyone aboard falls into agony. Initially unsure of what has happened to them, and having lost radio contact with U.S. Pacific Fleet Command at Pearl Harbor, Captain Yelland (Kirk Douglas), commander of the aircraft carrier, fears that there may have been a nuclear strike on Hawaii or the continental United States. He orders general quarters and launches an RF-8 Crusader reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft returns after photographing Hawaii but the images appear to date from 1941, showing an intact row of U.S. Pacific fleet battleships moored on "Battleship Row" at Pearl Harbor, a sight which has not existed for four decades.[Note 1]

When a surface contact is spotted on the radar, Yelland launches the ready alert, with two Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter jets from VF-84, to intercept. The patrol witnesses a civilian wooden yacht, Gatsby, being strafed and destroyed by two Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters, killing three of the crew members. The F-14s are ordered to drive off the Zeros without firing, but when the Zeros inadvertently head towards the Nimitz, Yelland gives clearance to shoot them down. The Nimitz rescues survivors from the yacht: prominent U.S. Senator Samuel Chapman (Charles Durning), his aide Laurel Scott (Katherine Ross), her dog Charlie, and one of the two downed Zero pilots (Soon-Tek Oh). Commander Owens (James Farentino), an amateur historian, recognizes Chapman as a politician who could have been Franklin D. Roosevelt's running mate (and his potential successor) during his final re-election bid, had Chapman not disappeared shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

When a Grumman E-2 Hawkeye scouting craft discovers the Japanese fleet task force further north in unpatrolled waters, poised to launch its attack on Pearl Harbor, the Nimitz crew realize that they have been transported back in time to the day before the attack. Yelland has to decide whether to destroy the Japanese fleet and alter the course of history or to stand by and allow history to proceed as they know it. The American civilians and the Zero pilot are kept isolated, but while being questioned, the Japanese pilot obtains a rifle, kills two Marine guards, and takes Laurel, Owens, and Lasky hostage. He threatens to kill them unless he is given access to a radio to warn the Japanese fleet about the Nimitz. Lasky tells Commander Owens to recite and describe the secret plans for the Japanese attack, and the Japanese pilot lowers his guard and is overcome and shot by Marines. Laurel and Owens develop an attraction for each other.

Chapman is outraged that Yelland knows of the impending Japanese attack but has not told anyone else, and demands to be taken to Pearl Harbor to warn the naval authorities. Yelland instead orders Owens to fly the civilians and sufficient supplies via helicopter to an isolated Hawaiian island, assuming they will eventually be rescued. When they arrive, Chapman realizes he has been tricked and tries to force the pilot to fly to Pearl Harbor, but instead causes an explosion that destroys the craft and kills everyone on board, which strand Laurel and Owens on the island. The Nimitz launches a massive strike force against the incoming Japanese forces, but the time storm returns. After a futile attempt to outrun the storm, Yelland recalls the strike force, and the ship and its aircraft safely return to 1980, leaving the past relatively unchanged. Upon the return of the Nimitz to Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet admirals board the ship to investigate the Nimitz's bizarre disappearance. Meanwhile, Lasky leaves the ship with Laurel's dog, Charlie, and encounters the mysterious Mr. Tideman face-to-face. Tideman is revealed to be a much older Owens, along with his wife, Laurel. Owens says to Lasky that they have a lot to talk about