The episode gives a nod to Hollywood actor Wayne Morris by naming the US aircraft carrier involved in the storyline after him. Morris interrupted his acting career to serve as a fighter pilot on the USS Essex. Flying an F6F Hellcat, he was credited with 57 aerial sorties, shooting down seven Japanese Zeros, sinking an escort vessel and a flak gunboat and helping sink a submarine and damage a heavy cruiser and a mine layer. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. He resumed his acting career after the war and was best known for his role in "Paths of Glory", ironically playing a cowardly WWI French officer opposite Kirk Douglas.