- Ens. Leonard J. Thom: [reporting aboard the PT109] Mr. Kennedy? Ensign Leonard Thom, your exec.
- [they exchange salutes]
- Lt. John F. Kennedy: Oh, hi. Glad to meet you, Leonard.
- [they shake hands]
- Lt. John F. Kennedy: Welcome aboard.
- Ens. Leonard J. Thom: [looking around the boat] How long did they give you to put it in shape?
- Lt. John F. Kennedy: Well, we've used about half the time just talking right here.
- Webb: You might as well face it, Commander. The 109's gone.
- Cmdr. C.R. Ritchie: Just a minute, you! You think I worry too much about those boats, don't you? No, but that's what you're thinking, and so are a lot of other people around here. Well, let me tell you something, mister - I worry about those boats, yes, and for one reason. Those boats have a deck on them, and men stand on those decks. That's why I won't give up the 109. She had men on her deck. I don't want the deck back, I want the men that were standing on it! That's the only thing that matters in this whole big hairy world! And don't you give me any of your smart-mouth again!
- Yeoman Rogers: [after Rogers finds out his transfer back to the U.S. was cancelled] I don't understand it Mr. Kennedy, I had it all sewn up. I should have gone to Harvard.
- Lt. John F. Kennedy: "Havard"
- [in a Boston accent]
- Charles 'Bucky' Harris: Good afternoon, sir. Crew's compartment ready for inspection. Harris, Gunner's Mate Second, standing by.
- Cmdr. C.R. Ritchie: Good afternoon.
- [He looks around, and then opens one of the lockers. On the inside of the door is a picture of a luscious pin-up girl]
- Cmdr. C.R. Ritchie: Somebody's kid sister?
- Charles 'Bucky' Harris: Sorry, sir.
- Lt. John F. Kennedy: He's very sorry, sir.
- Cmdr. C.R. Ritchie: Oh, no, no. Don't apologize... the most seaworthy thing I've seen on this boat.
- Commander C.R. Ritchie: [shouting at his yeoman] Schnibbe! This thing is full of strikeovers again, I could chain up a monkey in the basement to get better results! Try using your elbows.
- [to Kennedy]
- Commander C.R. Ritchie: Come in. Come in, sit down. Ah, it's not like the old Navy. In the old days, you could eat off the deck. I mean it, you could eat off the deck.
- Lt. (J.G.) John F. Kennedy: Yes, sir, they told us that at Melville.
- Commander C.R. Ritchie: Now these kids, you see, these hottentots? They take the boats out, they bounce them around like yo-yos, they... Where?
- Lt. (J.G.) John F. Kennedy: Melville.
- Commander C.R. Ritchie: Mr. Kennedy, I don't care where you've been. I don't want to know anything about you. I don't care if you've got a mother, a father - an orphan child. You just run a taut ship and hang onto Navy regulations. If you do, you'll find me a friendly man, a damn friendly man. If you don't, you...
- [sits back and shouts at his yeoman]
- Commander C.R. Ritchie: Schnibbe, where's that memo? I'm going to chain up that monkey!
- Edmund Drewitch: [reading a brief on Kennedy] Seems like all he ever did was go to school. He's had no sea duty. Says here he wrote a book.
- Leon Drawdy: Sounds like he oughta be in charge of a library.
- Charles 'Bucky' Harris: What's the name of the book?
- Edmund Drewitch: 'Why England Slept.'
- Charles 'Bucky' Harris: [around a cigar stub] Got any pictures in it?
- Edmund Drewitch: Pigeons?
- Charles 'Bucky' Harris: Pictures, idiot!
- Edmund Drewitch: He's lookin' for pictures and I'm an idiot.
- William Johnson: Who are we replacing? Couple of guys in Arlington?
- John Maguire: A little trouble at Choiseul, nothing serious.
- [a grenade explodes on the other side of the boat, startling the newcomers]
- John Maguire: [chuckles] Just the cook fishin'.
- Raymond Starkey: With a hand grenade?
- Edgar E. Mauer: [pulling a dead flounder out of the water] In war, you don't have time to sit around like Huckleberry Finn.