darkavenger77 I'm near the end of Season 4 as I write this. My thought is that these folks cannot possibly represent Australia's Navy. More like McHale's Navy. The show started out well in Seasons 1 and 2 and it remains entertaining, but this crew cannot learn from experiences. How many times will you leave a skeleton crew on a suspect vessel only to have them taken prisoner/hostage? How many times will you allow someone to take over your ship? Then there is the over-the-horizon super camera. When someone is SHOOTING at you, don't tell them to drop their gun- shoot back! Then there was the slasher movie episode (S3E8). The review here on it was spot-on. This series has a Lifetime movie-esque quality to it in that someone is always in jeopardy, often a female. I hope Season 5 improves, but I am not holding my breath.

lueb-292-592981 I'm watching this show after it's had its run through the Australian markets and making its way outward on HULU. It makes me want to see more Australian TV shows. The characters in Sea Patrol are great, and superb acting is the norm. I know to some it seems unrealistic, but of course it should be, as it's a fictional show. Whatever the case, it's very exciting, fun, funny, dramatic, romantic, and though not always heavy on the plot, it's great fun to follow the procedural events and military ventures. I am a military veteran myself though not a sailor, but it seems very real to me, despite the negative reviews that claim the contrary. On a personal level, the characters to me seem very real and remind me of many people that I happened to serve with myself, and some of the best memories of my life. The characters in this show interact so well that at times it's simply a blast to watch. It seemed that the show took somewhat of a hit after Season Three, which is my favorite so far, when it lost the first "Buffer", "Spider", and "Nav",but I still enjoy the show and will watch till the end. I hope to see more excellent Australian shows like this in the future, along with the many British high productions that my wife and I favor over the mindless, trashy junk that predominantly flows out of my own country.

cjmbabsc There is so much potential for the television series, "Sea Patrol", that I could almost qualify myself as a fan; almost. But the reality is this show is in desperate need of a Technical Adviser. When I see some of the dumb situations the crew get themselves into and the stupid responses and behavior of the crew, it makes this program seem more like a parody of the series, rather than the series itself.To start with, the Captain never leaves the ship, he doesn't go ashore on a mission, and he doesn't relinquish command of his vessel to anyone, at any time during the mission. That's just standard Navy procedure. Unless we can say that Australians are all a bunch of backward dorks, then this program is a poor representation of the Australian Navy. I just refuse to believe the Australian Navy is that poorly run. I've known quite a few Australians and they are a lot more intelligent than this program makes them out to be; making this series a blight on Australians everywhere !

grathian-1 Given that you have to cram a lot more story into a TV show than happens in real life, they did an excellent job here. I relived the smell of hot oil in the engine room and salt spray on the bridge wings in a storm. The smell of coffee on the mid-watch, sunrise on the bridge during the morning watch. It brought back a lot of the best memories, especially in the brief glimpses of the frigates such as I served many years aboard, although the Aussies seem to consider FFGs as the LARGE combatants! Small ships have tight crews, and I saw a very realistic portrayal of life aboard a warship (given plot constraints). Second season was much improved over the first in showing realistic chain of command relationships.