The Final Countdown is a 1980 American science fiction war film about a modern, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that travels through time to the day before the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. It is directed by Don Taylor, his final theatrical film as director, and stars Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farentino, Katharine Ross, Ron O'Neal, and Charles Durning. The film was produced with the cooperation of the United States Navy's naval aviation branch and the United States Department of Defense. It was set and filmed on board USS Nimitz (CVN-68), filming operations of the modern, nuclear warship, which had been launched in the early 1970s.