Navy Born

When Tex Jones, a navy pilot stationed on an aircraft carrier, learns that he is a father, he shares the news with his best pals and fellow pilots, Red Furness, Steve Bassett and Bill Lyons. Their ship reaches its home port of San Diego thirty days later, but when Tex returns home, he discovers that his wife Mary died the previous night. Tex is overwhelmed with grief, and while he looks at his son, whom he and Red call “the Admiral,” Red dissuades Mary’s snobbish sister, Bernice Farrington, from taking the baby away. After Bernice leaves, Tex tells Red that he does not want the Farringtons to take his son, and asks him to look after the Admiral while he sees Mary one last time. On his way to the hospital, however, the distraught Tex is run over by a car. Red, who had sneaked the baby into his bachelor quarters in order to avoid Bernice, goes to see Tex. In front of two witnesses, Tex appoints Red as his son’s legal guardian, then dies. Red returns to his quarters and sadly relates the news to Steve and Bill, and tells them that his Aunt Minnie will arrive soon to take care of the Admiral. Meanwhile, Bernice, her mother and their attorney, Mr. Strickland, visit Red’s commanding officer, Admiral Kingston, and persuade him to take them to Red’s quarters. Kingston alerts Red that they are coming, and while Bill rushes out to find Aunt Minnie, Steve and Red try to cover up evidence of the infant’s presence. Red stalls Kingston and the others as Steve hands the Admiral out the window to Aunt Minnie. Bernice concedes “round one” in the war for the child to Red, but vows to outmaneuver him somehow. Bernice then asks Red to give her flying lessons, although she already is an accomplished pilot, and one afternoon, Red knocks her out after she takes control of the plane to force him to reveal the baby’s whereabouts. Later, at a dance, Bernice asks her friend, Daphne Roth, to pump the womanizing Steve for information. While Daphne is “vamping” Steve, Red sincerely apologizes to Bernice for hitting her. When Red explains to her how important it is for Tex’s son to be brought up to be as a Navy man, Bernice regrets her subterfuge, but it is too late, for a drunken Steve has taken Daphne to see the Admiral. The Farringtons recover the child, and an angry Red refuses to listen to Bernice’s apologies. A week later, Red is about to ship out when he decides to see the Admiral one last time. He discovers that the boy is in the hospital and rushes there. At the hospital, Red and Bernice are quarreling when they are told that the Admiral has been stolen by gangster Joe Vezie, who mistakenly believes that the child is his. Red takes off in a Navy plane to pursue Vezie as he heads toward the Canadian border, while Bernice alerts Kingston. Although he is forced to declare Red A.W.O.L., Kingston sends Commander Saunders and four other fighter pilots to aid Red and, after Red convinces Vezie that the baby is not his, the child is recovered. Everyone assembles in Kingston’s office, and he agrees to not punish Red when Bernice and Red decide to marry and rear the Admiral in the Navy.