Lieutenant Humphrey Fairweather, a Navy officer, attempts to prove his rocket invention's superiority, but instead, he convinces the Navy that he's a liability. The Navy solves their problem by appointing Fairweather as the commander of H.M.S. Berkeley, an old destroyer, which has been without a commanding officer for nearly two years. The ship's skeleton crew, led by a resourceful Irish bosun, has been running a lucrative racketeering business with the local village. However, Fairweather's arrival threatens their operation. Despite his inexperience as a captain, Fairweather is distracted by building another rocket and pursuing a romantic relationship with Susanne, the French niece of a local publican and one of the ship's best customers.
Up the Creek
A well-connected but inept naval officer is reassigned to a mothballed warship in a remote location, where he becomes entangled in a mysterious crew's illicit financial activities.
