The film was directed by Henry Hathaway and stars Gary Cooper as a new officer wanting duty at sea but who is instead assigned to an experimental project without much hope of success.
At Norfolk Naval Base in the opening months of World War II, Lieutenant John W. Harkness, a newly commissioned officer, bids goodbye to wife Ellie and reports aboard the PC-1168 unaware that his civilian background in engineering and his Rutgers education has elected him, by means of a hole punched in an IBM card, to head a secret project and command the ship.
The Navy has installed a steam engine and an experimental evaporator-condenser in the ship to test its feasibility in patrol craft and has assigned Harkness to conduct the sea trials.
After badly damaging the bow of the ship their first time underway, Harkness and his officers butt heads with gruff Commander Reynolds, who oversees the project as the representative of Rear Admiral Tennant.
The crew bets heavily on their shipmate, and to ensure that the "Teakettle" does not fail a sea trial scheduled for the day of the fight, smuggles distilled water aboard.
As a reward for the trials and tribulations of the USS "Teakettle," to the delight of Chief Larrabee and the relief of Captain Harkness, the experimental steam power plant is replaced with a marine diesel.
This humorous piece recounted incidents from Hazard's own World War II experience as captain of a diesel-powered warship.
Though both Hazard and his crew had little experience at sea, they were selected to participate in a Navy experimental program that ultimately ended in failure.
Though neither director Henry Hathaway nor screenwriter Richard Murphy was adept at comedy, the studio relied on the "potential absurdities" of the storyline about inexperienced reservists "guiding an unreliable vessel through treacherous waters" to carry the film.
Joanne Dru was the studio's first choice for the character of Ensign Ellie Harkness, but when she declined to sign a long-term contract, Jane Greer was cast instead.
[5] 20th Century Fox launched a nationwide promotional tour featuring Cooper, who also agreed to appear in the film's trailer.
Variety called it "rib-tickling filmfare," noting that the series of adventures aboard ship "are run off smartly and help to disguise fact that there’s practically no plot."
"[6] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised the screenplay, acting, and directing, calling it "the most explosively funny service picture that has come along since the nickelodeon versions of the sinking of the battleship Maine.
[8] Erickson agrees: "Viewed today, You're in the Navy Now doesn't seem quite as funny as many observers thought it was in 1951, hampered by the cut-and-dried 'factory' look common to most 20th Century Fox releases of the era".