故事的创作灵感来自于一款非常畅销的战棋游戏“战舰攻防战”，编剧对故事情节进行了改编和具体化，影片以海军中尉Alex (泰勒·克奇饰)为主线，从他被派往美国导弹驱逐舰履职开始揭开序幕，把人们带入了一个未来可能发生的科幻场景。

导弹驱逐舰在一次执行海上演习任务时，将藏匿在太平洋深海的外星巨形母舰所惊动，外星母舰误以为自己将受到攻击，于是主动出击欲消灭舰队，面对来者不善的外星巨舰，他们不得不尽最大的努力来保卫人类所居住的地球，来阻止可能给地球带来的这场浩劫，明知力量悬殊，也要与外星战舰进行殊死一搏。Alex几乎动用了所有的力量，联合未婚妻 (布鲁克琳·黛克饰)、舰队总司令Shane (连姆·尼森饰)、兄长Stone (亚历山大·斯卡斯加德饰)和武器专家Raikes (蕾哈娜饰)，与外星战舰展开了针锋相对的战斗。

The story is inspired by a very popular war chess game "Battleship Attack and Defense". The screenwriter has adapted and embodied the storyline, The film takes Navy Lieutenant Alex (played by Taylor Kitsch) as the main line, and kicks off when he is sent to the US guided missile destroyer to perform his duties, bringing people into a sci-fi scene that may happen in the future.

When the guided missile destroyer was performing a maritime exercise mission, it was alarmed by the giant alien mothership hiding in the deep sea of the Pacific Ocean. The mothership mistakenly thought that it would be attacked, so it took the initiative to attack and destroy the fleet. Facing the alien giant ships that came with bad intentions, they had to do their best to defend the earth where humans live and prevent the possible damage to the earth. In this catastrophe, knowing the disparity in power, they have to fight the alien warships to the death. Alex used almost all his strength, joining his fiancée (Brooklyn Decker), fleet commander Shane (Liam Neeson), brother Stone (Alexander Skarsgard) and weapons expert Raikes (Riha Na), launched a tit-for-tat battle with the alien warship.