Although produced in 1933, the bulk of the film takes place in 1940; events depicting the start of World War II are, of course, fictional and strictly futuristic, but nonetheless on target as far as the date is concerned.
The movie was futuristic in predicting not only World War 2 (with the rise of Hitler and other totalitarian regimes in the early 1930s) but also the popularity of television and telephones with cameras.
In the naval montage, the lead destroyer in the formation is the U.S.S. Sands (DD-243). This Clemson-class destroyer was commissioned in 1920 and saw service in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans prior to WWII. She saw considerable action in the Pacific theater during the war, earning nine battle stars. She was decommissioned in October 1945 and scrapped the following year.
In the naval montage, the aircraft shown taking off from the U.S.S. Saratoga (CV-3) are Boeing F3B's of Fighter Squadron VF-6B, the "Fighting Chiefs".
This is the first movie to show the Empire State Building being destroyed. Deluge (1933) in the same year shows it still standing but half underwater. King Kong (1933) hardly damaged it at all.