The Captain revokes shore leave after someone crushes a cigar in his beloved plant.
The Captain sinks a washtub planted by Pulver thinking it was a Japanese submarine.
Roberts finds Doc at the end of the sick call line, depressed because he feels unneeded. Roberts gets Pulver to fake an appendix attack. Doc examines Pulver and decides to operate.
Roberts is stunned to find that a beautiful woman is part of the cargo he is suppose to load on board.
Congressman Cooper visits the Reluctant intending to make it a bond selling shrine in the U.S., due to the heroic exploits Pulver wrote about that were published in his hometown newspaper.
The Captain is in an unusually good mood and is granting all sections liberty when they dock in Azalia. Pulver, Roberts and Doc discover Captain Morton is in love with a woman named Leona.
Pulver pretends his girlfriend is royalty in order to explain why she is on board the ship.
Captain Morton forces the crew to watch the movie The Crawling Glob With the Bedroom Eyes every night even though a musical with girls in bathing suits is available. When Roberts learns it's the Captain's birthday, he gets the crew to throw the Captain a party in an attempt to soften him up.
Frustrated at not being able to get a transfer Roberts has been snapping at the men. Doc diagnoses it as an acute attack of self pity. The crew is preoccupied with finding a phonograph and needle to listen to recently received records from wives and girlfriends.
Roberts orders a reduction gear installed for the Reluctant which will give it the speed it needs to allow it to join a convoy headed to combat. The new part causes some damage which at first is misinterpreted as being hit by the enemy. The gun crew directed by Pulver shoots down their radio tower while firing at a zero.
A Japanese pilot helps the crew when they get stuck in the middle of the ocean.
The Captain asks for Roberts' help in creating a story to cover-up the fact that the crew screwed up a mission.
Pulver writes his mother a letter describing Robert's desire to see action and the conditions aboard the reluctant asking her to help get Roberts transferred. Her Senate connections come through - with a transfer for Pulver.
Roberts's transfer finally comes through, but the Captain plans to block it.
The ship accidentally leaves port with a pregnant woman in the sickbay.
Captain Morton puts Doc and Roberts in charge of his ailing palm tree, an outstanding cargo achievement award from the Admiral. They discover Pulver has been feeding it hot creamed chipped beef. Seaman Insigna has received a Dear John letter from Alice, a red cross worker on Cocoa Island. In order to meet Alice's sexy co-worker Rosemary Pulver tells the Captain there is a plant doctor on Cocoa Island.
Roberts gets a transfer, but must stay when his replacement proves to be inept.
Captain Morton is visiting Admiral Wetherby. Mr. Roberts, Doc and most of the crew is on liberty, so that leaves Pulver in charge of the Reluctant. He gives medical supplies to a pretty lieutenant without permission. Roberts refuses to help him get them back until he finds out Pulver signed his name.
Pulver is tongue-tied around the woman he's infatuated with.
The Reluctant has orders to make contact and maintain good relations with the natives of Namu atoll whose young men were taken away by the Japanese. Captain Morton angrily orders them off the ship but then sends Roberts, Doc and Pulver to make amends.
New CWO Al Briggs is granted permission from Captain Morton to take over Roberts's and Pulver's cabin. Briggs uses secret information he knows about the Captain's past to implement poker, horse racing bets, shuffleboard and other activities on the Reluctant.
Doc must gain the favor of Beulah Cronk, the lady who owns an island on which the Navy wants to place observation posts.
The crews of the Reluctant and the AK-627 brawl during liberty and damage the Hula Haven to the amount of $680. Each crew has raised $200 so a boxing match is held to determine who pays the balance.
The ship must transfer three USO girls and the Captain orders them to stay out of sight. Pulver gets permission for the girls to do their act for the crew. Roberts spots the periscope of a two-man Japanese submarine watching the girls do their show and tells Pulver to keep the girls dancing until the patrol bomber he requested arrives.
While in port because the Captain needs his appendix removed the Port Commander decides the Reluctant cannot be idle that long and says if a mission comes up they will have to accept it and the Captain may be reassigned. Roberts comes up with a plan for Morton to keep his command while trying to patch things up with Ann Crothers.
The crew returns to the island of Namu to take a survival test.
Roberts sees a girl pass by Doc's porthole. Then Ensign Pulver sees her in his locker. Doc diagnoses an hallucination as the crew is overdue for liberty but she turns out to be a real, live stowaway who wants to work her way to New Caledonia.
Seaman Herbert Miller's arrival is highly anticipated as he is the first Navy classified cook to serve aboard the Reluctant, except he can't cook. Captain Morton invites Admiral Morrison over for a meal. Roberts, Pulver and Doc cook it, giving Miller the credit who is immediately transferred by the Admiral to his flag ship.
Roberts and Pulver are in Sydney, Australia to vie for a role in the new Alice Blue movie. D'Angelo, Manion and Reber try to give Roberts an inside track with some movie magazine information.
A German spy who is a dead ringer for the Captain is planted on the ship.