The Greek island of Rhodes provided locations—the unit was based on there from April to July 1960. Quinn was so taken with the area that he bought land there in an area still called Anthony Quinn Bay. Some further scenes were shot on the islands of Gozo, near Malta, and Tino, in the Ligurian Sea. One of the warships in the film, the , then a training ship in the Hellenic Navy known as "Aetos" (D-01), is preserved as a museum ship in Albany, New York.