Stand by for Action Page #3

We're not celebrating

Old Home Week, Masterman.

Those men are coming here

to try to get fighting ships

back to sea again

in the least possible time.

Maybe you believe,

like a lot of other people,

that we can fight this year's

war with next year's ships.

- No sir. - See that the yard

manager's office gets this at once.

It gives the repairs to the

Crenshaw a high priority.

- Yes sir. - No wonder I have wild

eyed officers barging in on me,

- unannounced.

- I'm sorry about that, sir.

- Won't happen again.

- Right.

It was rather a raw trick

to play on Roberts, at that.

Taking him off a brand new

spic and span destroyer leader

and transferring him

to a ship like the Warren.

Not that old Noah's Ark, sir.

Yes.

Having him march in like that just when

I needed a new skipper for the Warren

was a great a stroke of luck.

Roberts knows those

old force trackers

from stem to stern

and truck to keel.

Couldn't have found

a better man.

- Congratulations, sir. - Seeing

as he'll have has hands full,

I want to find him a

crack executive officer.

Yes, sir. Whom do you suggest

we condemn to the galleys?

Hm?

Sit down, Masterman.

Thank you, sir.

You youngsters of the new Navy don't

think much of officers like Roberts.

- Do you? - Well,

to be truthful sir,

I haven't thought of him at all.

I can understand why.

Take you, for example.

You were given the privilege of

a top drawer Harvard education,

with everything that family

and position could offer.

Like any good solid American,

you took full advantage of it.

That shows in your examination

for the Naval service,

and in your service record

since you've been in the Navy.

That's why you've

moved ahead so fast.

- I've tried to do my best, sir.

- Of course you have.

Wouldn't expect

anything else of you.

But Roberts did it the hard way.

He enlisted during the last war.

Must've been as young

as we take 'em.

Maybe a little younger.

His father was a farmer, he had no

family to help him, and no traditions.

He fought his way up.

Masterman, you've never had to

fight very hard for anything.

You've missed a lot of fun...

And a lot of Navy, the real Navy

that doesn't float on salt water,

but in a man's blood stream.

A man that goes to sea as the

Warren's executive officer,

will be lucky.

He can learn a lot from

a skipper like Roberts.

Well, I'm sure of that, sir.

As for me, I've already learned

a lot serving under you, sir.

Yes, yes... I've noticed.

Your lumbago, sir?

Mr. Masterman, an occasional

stitch in the back is not lumbago.

- No sir. - And I'll thank

you not to mention that

where it might be misinterpreted

by some long nosed sawbones.

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