There’s a point in the new Universal Pictures film "Battleship" where the Navy, under assault from aliens, turns to the only sailors around who can help save the human race: the Old Salts.

The cranky and resourceful salts fire up the battleship Missouri, where it appears that most of them were spending their senior years as docents. Then they sail out to face the invaders.

In their ranks is the real thing: 78-year-old Brooks Outland, a former Missouri crewman.

Outland was one of 75 extras, almost all of them veterans, hired to play the Old Salts. Many of them were in their 80s when the film was shot on the Battleship Missouri Memorial.

The Akron, Ohio, native enlisted in the Navy on his 17th birthday, and when he got to the Missouri, he was the youngest sailor aboard the ship. His shipmates created a makeshift diaper and pinned it to his sleeping berth.

Outland was aboard the Mighty Mo from 1950 to 1952, during which he served on a combat tour in the Korean War.

His battle station was at a 40-mm anti-aircraft gun on the fantail of the ship — a brutal assignment during the coldest winter in Korean history, 29 degrees below zero.

There were greater hazards than a wind chill of 98 below. Once, when the Missouri fired its 16-inch guns on the aft turret, Outland and another sailor had not made it inside the ship. A shock wave traveling at roughly 400 feet per second slammed them, Outland said.

"It picked us up and threw us down like rag dolls," he said.

Outland’s time on the set of "Battleship"•was considerably safer. He was brought aboard in November, when director Peter Berg returned to Hawaii for more shots.

"They had us filming for three days," Outland said. "Up early in the morning, off to wardrobe and makeup to make us look dirty. But it was grueling. They did those takes so many times. They wore us old fellas out."

Outland lives in Wai•anae after moving to Hawaii from Florida in 2007. He and his new wife, Cathy, a former avionics technician with NASA, wanted to volunteer on the memorial, where they were married in 2006. Outland is such an enthusiastic supporter of the old ship that he donated his "Battleship" paycheck to the memorial.

Outland saw the film at an advance screening, and when he saw the ship on the big screen, he felt 17 again.

"It was chilling," he said. "I had goose bumps. My wife said I couldn’t sit still. She said I was wiggling all over the place. It was so exciting to see, and when the 16-inch guns fired, it blew me away."

How competitive is "Battleship" director Peter Berg?

During a recent interview, he told me he was addicted to hiking Koko Crater while filming in Hawaii. He hiked the stairs three times a week. When I told him I liked it, too, he immediately shot back, "What’s your best time?"

Seventeen-something.

"I did it in 16 flat today," he said. "And it was crowded on a Sunday morning. But a really beautiful girl passed me about halfway up, and she was carrying a rock. And that infuriated me."

He was clearly envious of Taylor Kitsch, star of his film.

"Kitsch has done it in 13 minutes," Berg said. "He’s a beast."

And that’s a wrap …