To be fair he was talking about the Hollywood version. Hollywood would use the most ancient of the DDs as the focus as the story and imply that was an average one while harping on its defects. Meanwhile it would use the Yamato as the focus of the story and imply that was the average Japanese ship there and play up all its strengths and none of its weaknesses. You have to make the story exciting you know.
Actually, I was being even more of a smart-alec, and referring to the fact that in the last Pearl Harbor movie (blargh! Spit!), during the scenes of the Japanese attack (obviously on December 7, 1941), you can clearly see several Spruance-class DDs going up in flames, along with several ships equipped with SAM, and even (most ghastly of all) a quick cameo appearance by one end of the Arizona Memorial.