Based on a World War II-era magazine article that originally ran in The New Yorker, this slapstick comedy stars Gary Cooper as first-time Navy commander Lt. John Harkness, a well-intentioned officer whose attempts to master an experimental steam-powered vessel (known affectionately as the U.S.S. Teakettle) inadvertently launch a floating disaster. A young Charles Bronson co-stars in his feature-film debut.