This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
- The 1991 Tailhook scandal case. In September 1991, the 35th Annual Tailhook Association Symposium in Las Vegas featured a two-day debrief on Navy and Marine Corps aviation during Operation Desert Storm. It was the largest such meeting yet held, with some 4000 attendees: active, reserve, and retired personnel. According to a Department of Defense report, 83 women and 7 men stated that they had been victims of assault and sexual harassment during the meeting. A series of official investigations was conducted, but all were widely criticized, involving official cover-ups by senior Navy and civilian officials and denial of due process to hundreds of individuals, most of whom were not accused of any wrongdoing.
- The ongoing crisis of sexual assault in the United States military.
An article 32 hearing is a proceeding under the United States Military Uniform Code of Justice: it is similar to a civilian court of law preliminary hearing. During an article 32 hearing, a prosecutor from the JAG (Judge Advocate General) office goes before a military judge and requests permission to bring formal charges against an officer and to convene a general court-martial. In order for the request to be granted, the prosecutor must show the judge he has sufficient evidence against the officer in question to warrant a court-martial. This proceeding is the military equivalent to a probable cause hearing in a civilian court where a District Attorney--or U.S. Attorney depending on the venue--has to present evidence before a judge to show that probable cause exists to bind a defendant over for trial.
The ship in this episode appears to be based on the U.S.S. Mount McKinley (AGC-7). She was the first ship of her class, the prototype for the Mount McKinley class amphibious force command ships. (The purpose of this type of vessel was to act as a floating command post for large-scale amphibious combat operations. Ships of this class were equipped with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and the landing force commander during large-scale operations). The McKinley was launched in September 1943 and was commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on May 1, 1944. She acted as the command ship for several major amphibious operations during World War II--the largest being the attack on Okinawa, Japan during the final days of the war, where she directed the landing of the 77th Infantry Division. After the WWII, she served as the command ship for Operation Crossroads, the name given to the amphibious testing of several nuclear bombs at Bikini Atoll in July 1946. She was also the command ship for several major operations during the Korean War, including the amphibious invasion of Inchon, Korea in September 1950, which was directed by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. The McKinley was decommissioned by the Navy in 1976 and scrapped three years later.
Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) and Julianna Margulies (Lieutenant Ruth Mendoza) would appear together again in The Good Wife (2009), as Peter Florrick and Alicia Florrick respectively.
Mark Zimmerman has played five different characters over the course of the series:
- Episode 2.17 Sisters of Mercy (1992) - Polygraph Tester.
- Episode 3.17 Conduct Unbecoming (1993) - Mooren.
- Episode 6.18 Atonement (1996) - Frederick Scannel
- Episode 8.2 Denial (1997) - Judge Nathan Murray
- Episode 11.15 Swept Away - A Very Special Episode (2001) - Lawyer for Gavin
- Episode 14.2 Bounty (2003) onwards - Judge Nathan Murray