McHale's Navy was an American television sitcom series. The series ran for 138 thirty-minute episodes (along with a one-hour pilot) from 1962 to 1966 on ABC.

The series was set in the Pacific theatre of World War II (in the show's last season the setting was switched to Italy) and was based around the crew of PT-73, led by Lt. Commander Quinton McHale (Ernest Borgnine). McHale's second-in-command was Ensign Charles Parker (Tim Conway), in his career-making performance as a gentle, naive bumbler who usually succeeded in spite of his own ineptness.

The 'forces of evil' were well represented by his commander, Captain Wallace "Leadbottom" Binghamton (Joe Flynn), ably aided by the syncophantic Lieutenant Carpenter (Bob Hastings). Flynn was an expert in depicting sputtering frustration.

A future American TV star, Gavin MacLeod (later of both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Love Boat), played crew member "Happy" Haines. The most unusual crew member was Japanese prisoner-of-war Fuji (Yoshido Yoda), who had become a de facto comrade that the 73's crew had to keep hidden from Binghamton.

The plots revolved around the efforts of Captain Binghamton to rid himself of the PT-73 crew. Binghamton's military discipline ran counter to the 'get-rich-quick,' money-making schemes of the 73's crew, which were usually led by the confident 'con-man' Lester Gruber (played by actor and comic magician Carl Ballantine). Quite often, Binghamton 'had the goods' on the 73's crew, only to see them pull off a military success against the enemy which impressed their headquarters.

The final season saw a major scenic change, as both Binghamton and the 73's crew were transferred to the recently-liberated Italian theater. The addition of the clever get-rich-quick schemes of the mayor and citizens of the coastal city of Voltafiore increased the plot twists.

Some of the "McHale's Navy" cast members had also starred in the previous sit-com, "The Phil Silvers Show" (Sergeant Bilko).

The original cast appeared in two feature film versions of the series; McHale's Navy (1964) and McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965). There was also a 1997 remake.

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IMDB