Plot Synopsis

In 1944, a segregated unit of black seamen, who are poorly trained and ill equipped, are forced by belittling, racist officers to load dangerous munitions at a Navy base in California. After an explosion kills more than 300 men, fifty black sailors take a stand and refuse to work. They are court-martialed and sent to prison for 15 years. Pres. Truman commuted the sentences after the men had served 4 years.