The USS 'Poe' ship in this film was portrayed by the real-life Fletcher Class destroyer DD-538 USS 'Stephen Potter' for this movie. This vessel was named after World War I naval aviator Ensign Stephen Potter (1896-1918). The ship was chosen because of it was used during the Second World War. It was commissioned in October 1943. During the war it was mostly used to screen the fast carrier task groups. It was mothballed in September 1945. It was recommissioned in 1951 and served until 1958 until it was mothballed again. It was scrapped in 1973. The ship earned 12 battle stars for its service in World War 2.
The USS 'Stephen Potter' had its post-World War II enhancements and improvements removed for the making of this film which is set during the Second World War. WW II era gun mounts had to be added to the vessel for authenticity.
The meaning and relevance of this movie's title The Deep Six (1958) is that it is a marine term or American nautical slang. From the 1940s, it referred to the act to toss overboard as in jettisoning cargo. Alternatively, dating from the early 1900s, it could mean a burial at sea, referring to the usual six-foot depth of graves as in six feet under. It initially was a sailor's vocal calling to the ship's command on the bridge that the depth of water was more than six fathoms (11 meters) but not as many as seven fathoms, six fathoms being the minimum legal distance for a burial at sea. Often its use in an expression will be to give or get the deep six or to deep-six.