Well, I only saw it once, and that was way back when it first aired. I'm not sure it is as bad as
Ironclads (which has a lot of minor technical flaws) in that respect, but both movies are like
Midway, in that they waste a lot of time telling fictional love stories that could have been spent filling out the actual story.
That said, my opinion on this is personal, and should be taken that way. And these are the only movies that tell those stories, so I feel they could have been better but are still worth owning for the true fan of the subject.
I know so many cool Civil War naval stories that will never be filmed. Oh well.