Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) is a fiery executive officer to a PT squadron headed by Lt. John Brickley, who is frustrated because he wants to see action and the navy brass doesn’t have confidence to send the small PT boats into action if there was combat. At the outbreak of the war, Rusty ceases writing requests to transfer to a destroyer. All the navy men are gung-ho to the cause and their duty. The film follows the squadron as they get a chance to shoot down Japanese planes and are assigned as message carriers between Bataan and Corregidor, until, at last, as ship hunters. Just as the PT squadron is ennobled as warriors and the fight on Corregidor begins, the two top officers are ordered to the States to promote their PT-boat as essential to the war effort. This leaves their men to face an almost hopeless chance of survival, considering they are greatly outnumbered by the Japanese forces. There’s also a well-conceived unsentimental love story, as a hospitalized Rusty meets nurse Sandy Davys (Donna Reed).