The historian of the fleet listed the main mistakes in the depiction of warships in games and movies.

In summer, Russia celebrates Navy Day, a memorable date of the Armed Forces dedicated to military sailors and the continuity of the Russian navy. On the eve of the holiday, interest in the maritime theme is traditionally growing: warships actively appear in movies, video games, advertisements and congratulatory products. However, at the same time, the number of distortions is increasing, due to which visual images increasingly diverge from historical reality. On June 18, Sergey Patyanin, a military historian, writer and author of scientific publications on the history of the navy, told Izvestia about this.

According to the expert, the most common mistakes can be roughly divided into three categories. The first is when modern ships are passed off as historical ones.

"This is more typical of cinema, and not only Soviet or Russian. In the very rich 2001 American blockbuster Pearl Harbor, slender rows of Sprewens-class destroyers depict ships from the Second World War. It's clear that the filmmakers want to save money, but it looks terrible," he said.

It is no less common for foreign ships and military equipment to be passed off as domestic. The historian gave an example: by February 23, May 9, and Navy Day, advertising banners with German "Tigers" or American "Abrams" regularly appear.

The expert stressed that such mistakes cannot be explained only by ignorance of the topic. In his opinion, more often we are talking about negligence and lack of basic verification, which "takes only a couple of minutes."

Navy Day 2026: Amazing traditions that sailors have been observing for decades

The holiday was established in 1939 on the initiative of Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov.

The third category is related to attempts to "improve" the appearance of ships. As Patyanin explained, images of real ships are often artificially embellished: details are removed from them or, conversely, non-existent elements are added, which distorts their appearance and technical characteristics.

Speaking about the permissibility of artistic interpretation, the historian noted that it is justified only if the work was originally declared as an alternative history. As a good example, he cited Sergei Anisimov's novel "The ENCORE Option", based on pre-war projects and real drawings.

"If you immediately indicate that the work belongs to the genre of alternative history, please. This can be treated as mind games, but nothing more. If distortions are made just for the sake of entertainment, besides, it is not announced that this is a distortion, nothing good can be expected from this — one must show zero tolerance for such things," the historian said.

Separately, Patyanin focused on computer games, where the boundary between artistic balance and historical authenticity is initially blurred. Even with visually accurate models, the behavior of ships in the game is inevitably simplified.

"The distortions start almost immediately, because otherwise the gameplay would become too complicated and would lose its appeal to a wide audience," he explained.

Patyanin also expressed concern that not all developers turn to military experts, and if they do, they don't always listen to their opinions.

Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet Day 2026: history and traditions of the holiday

The Black Sea Fleet will celebrate 243 years since its foundation

The expert paid special attention to the rapid spread of images created using artificial intelligence. In his opinion, such technologies carry serious risks for the preservation of historical truth. He noted that even in the scientific community, attempts are being made to "improve" archival photographs using AI, but the result raises questions.

According to the historian, after such processing, the image "ceases to be a historical document," since it is impossible to determine which changes were made by the algorithm and how much they correspond to reality.

"The mass distribution of such images can lead to the substitution of real historical materials. If such visualizations are perceived as authentic, it can seriously distort the perception of the past, especially among an unprepared audience," he stressed.

As a recommendation to authors working with military subjects, Patyanin called for paying more attention to the study of sources and relevant literature.

"Learn history: read good books, study drawings, photographs, documentaries," he advised.

According to him, only a systematic approach to studying the history of the fleet makes it possible to avoid gross mistakes and form a reliable visual image of warships.

Earlier, fleet historian Dmitry Zhavoronkov listed the main traditions of sailors on Navy Day.