This hilarious but realistic saga of a group of American sailors aboard a Navy cargo vessel in the Pacific shows the crew suffering from the deadly boredom that is part of the routine of war. To their constant irritation, their Captain is a cantankerous, small-minded man, and every one of them conspires against him as the ship pursues its routine runs from Apathy to Tedium and back again. Mister Roberts, a decent and well-liked lieutenant, shares the crew’s dislike for the Skipper, but he joined the war effort to fight, and he hates being inactive almost as much as he hates the Captain. Privy to the crew’s hijinks against the Skipper, Roberts still feels it’s his duty to retain some discipline. After winning many ingenious battles against the Skipper, Roberts at last wins himself a transfer to combat duty – a transfer that ultimately costs him his life on a destroyer off Japan.