Don't Give Up the Ship

Following World War II, an entire destroyer escort, the U.S.S. ''Kornblatt'', has mysteriously gone missing. Lieutenant John Paul Steckler VII (Jerry Lewis), the last of a long line of good-natured but screw-up U.S. Navy officers, was tasked with commanding the ''Kornblatt'' to its decommission back in the U.S., but somehow the ship disappeared without a trace on its homeward voyage. Now, with a $4 billion appropriation at stake, Congress (US)man Mandeville (Gale Gordon) refuses to approve the funds until the ''Kornblatt'' is found. Steckler's former superior, Vice Admiral Bludde (Robert Middleton), who has been trying to sugarcoat this embarrassing incidence, has no other choice but to comply.