Although it can be seen as an embellishment by the filmmakers, Bruno Gaido's daring shooting of the damaged Japanese bomber that was about to crash into the USS Enterprise is genuine. All details, from his jump into the cockpit to the Japanese bomber almost hitting the deck and clipping Gaido's plane, to the exact words of his promotion by Admiral Halsey, are historically accurate.
The film highlights the faulty Mark 13 aerial torpedo used by the US Devestator at the time. Even before the war, the Mark 13 was shown to be faulty with most test torpedoes either sinking, running on the surface, or just failing to launch. Studies later found that many torpedoes were damaged upon impact with the water, namely the propellers and the torpedo head. It took two years of testing and re-evaluation before the Mark 13 became a reliable weapon by incorporating a shroud to protect the propeller fins and adding a drag ring to the torpedo head to cushion the impact. The drag ring was made of wood and would break away upon impact. During Midway, only a single Mark 13 found its target and detonated. It was dropped by a Catalina float-plane and hit the oil-tanker Kiyosumi Maru. The explosion ripped a 33 foot hole in the ship's bow but the Kiyosumi Maru survived and continued on with its mission.
The wreckage of the Akagi and the Kaga were found the month before the film's premiere.
The Japanese admiral Yamamoto expresses his regret over the Pearl Harbor attack, making the famous quote "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve". Yamamoto said something similar in other films about the Pearl Harbor attack, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Pearl Harbor (2001) (which omits the second part of the sentence). Despite the persistence of this quote in movie history, it has never been officially attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto; no one heard him explicitly say it, nor has it ever been found within any of his writings. Yamamoto had indeed withdrawn to his room in a depressed state following the attack, but it was reportedly because the Japanese Foreign Ministry had failed to declare war on the USA prior to the assault, which made Yamamoto's actions an unprovoked attack rather than a military engagement. Having lived in the US for a time, he knew that attacking without having first declared war would violate the American sense of "Fair Play". Because of that, their response to Pearl Harbor would be much more severe.
Although William F. Halsey's skin rash is referred to briefly in the film, it was so severe by the time of Midway he lost 20 pounds and was suffering from insomnia due to the chronic irritation. Chester W. Nimitz was reportedly so shocked by Halsey's appearance that he had no choice but to replace him for the upcoming engagement. Nimitz asked Halsey to recommend his own replacement. Nimitz was surprised when Halsey recommended Raymond A. Spruance, a man who had no carrier command experience. Halsey made this recommendation because Spruance had been so successful at keeping his cruisers up to speed with Halsey's carriers. Still, Halsey was devastated he would not be leading the fleet into battle and called it "the most grievous disappointment in my career".