Inept Navy Lieutenant Tom Dodge has been given one last chance to clean up his record. But thanks to his nemesis, Admiral Graham, he is assigned the leadership of The Stingray, a rusty, beat-up, creaky submarine, that will play the role of the enemy in a series of practice war games. Dodge's unenviable task is made worse when he meets his crew, an eccentric, incompetent bunch that includes a flatulent cook and an accident-prone electrician. Also, as an experiment in sexual integration, a woman has come onboard to join these misfits.

Dodge must find a way to shape up this motley crew, if he's ever going to prove his worth to Graham, the Navy -- and himself.