At Norfolk Naval Base in the opening months of World War II, Lt. John W. Harkness Gary Cooper, a newly commissioned officer with a civilian engineering background and a Rutgers education, is ordered to report aboard PC-1168 to head a secret project. He learns that his selection came through an IBM card hole, and his assignment is to supervise sea trials for a ship equipped with a steam engine and an experimental evaporator-condenser, testing its feasibility in patrol craft. The mission hinges on unproven equipment and a crew that is largely civilian and newly inducted, with officers described as “90-day wonders.” The base expects a quick learning curve, but the reality is more chaotic than orderly, setting the stage for a test of nerve, ingenuity, and leadership.
The crew aboard PC-1168 is a mixed bag. The ship’s most experienced sailors are Chief Larrabee [Millard Mitchell], the boatswain, and the chief machinist’s mate, while the rest are green recruits. The executive officer, Lt. (j.g.) Barron [Eddie Albert], is a good-natured idea-man whose seamanship is not yet second nature. Ens. Barbo [Jack Webb], the engineering officer, has little formal training in engineering, and Ens. Dorrance [Richard Erdman] is plagued by seasickness. As the bowing ship suffers a rough start—damaging its bow on the first run—the ship’s potential is questioned by Commander Reynolds [John McIntire], who oversees the project for Rear Admiral Tennant [Ray Collins]. The crew’s morale sinks under repeated failures, and the ship earns the nickname “USS Teakettle” from the base as it struggles to stay afloat.
Ellie C. Harkness [Jane Greer], wife of the young lieutenant and a member of the WAVES, becomes a vital link back home, passing along information to her husband about Admiral Tennant’s activities. Her connections help illuminate the stakes of the project and the strategic importance of proving that an unconventional crew can master the experimental system.
To knit the crew together, the team devises a plan centered on the base boxing championship. They train engine room sailor Wascylewski [Charles Bronson] to represent the ship, betting heavily on their unlikely contender. In a bid to keep the sea trial on track, they smuggle distilled water aboard, ensuring the system can operate under stress. Wascylewski breaks a rib during training, prompting Barbo to stand in, yet the untested man surprises everyone by winning the championship. This unexpected victory gives the crew a much-needed morale boost and a renewed sense of purpose.
The Official Sea Trial becomes a crucible for the ship and its crew. The Teakettle manages a precarious, improvised run, but the culmination ends in humiliation when the ship ramms an aircraft carrier—another jarring setback that could derail the entire project. In the ensuing board of inquiry, Admiral Tennant reveals to Harkness that the selection of his crew was not a fluke but a deliberate test: the Navy already knew that experts could run the system, and the real question was whether a largely civilian, novice crew could quickly learn to operate the new technology under pressure.
As a reward for the trials and tribulations, the experimental steam power plant is replaced with a marine diesel, a change that marks a turning point in how the ship will operate going forward. With this shift, PC-1168 is reassigned to convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic, a testament to the crew’s perseverance and a vindication of the broader goal: to determine if ordinary sailors could master extraordinary machinery in the face of wartime urgency.
