Al is a middle-aged husband in a long-term marriage, but Fred was married to a war bride during basic training only a few weeks before becoming a bomber pilot:Fred: Do you remember what it felt like when we went overseas?Al: As well as I remember my own name.Maybe I should cut him some slack.""Cause maybe, just maybe, this guy""s gonna turn out to be, I don""t know, a king? And maybe his first royal decree will be to banish everyone who ever picked on him.Due to the townspeople""s cowardice (representing cooperative witnesses before the HUAC), physical inability, self-interest, expediency, and indecisiveness, he is refused help at every turn against a revenge-seeking killer and his gang.He sailed from San Francisco and reported for duty at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.He was shocked when assigned to the dilapidated and battered WW II destroyer/minesweeper heD.M.S.Caine.Onboard, the naive and bright-eyed Keith met theCaine""scommunications officer Lieutenant Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray) - a sarcastic and aspiring novel-writer, and the ship""s steadfast and stalwart executive officer - a sober career officer and second-in-command Lieutenant Steve Maryk (Van Johnson).