Updated: October 12, 2025

This military service comedy series was set in the Pacific theatre of World War II for the last season, the setting changed to the European theater in Italy and focused on antics of the misfit crew of PT-73 led by Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale, played by Borgnine. The producer, Edward Montagne, had enjoyed success with The Phil Silvers Show often referred to as Sergeant Bilko, after the series' protagonist a military comedy that ran from 1955 to 1959 about an opportunistic non-commissioned officer and his loyal platoon putting loony things over on the camp commander. While the pilot had been dramatic, with overtones of Henry Fonda's introspective Mister Roberts, Montagne turned the "McHale" project into "Bilko in the Navy" and recruited Sergeant Bilko actors and writers.

However, unlike Sergeant Bilko, which was set in peacetime, McHale's Navy was set during World War II, although much of what takes place is, in some ways, as if it were peacetime with the crew permanently stationed in one location and concerned about peacetime duties rather than fighting a war. At the time of the series, then President John F. Kennedy was known as the decorated wartime commander of PT-109. A popular book, PT-109: John F. Kennedy in World War II by Robert J. Donovan, came out the previous year, and a feature film based on the book, PT 109, a year after the series’ debut. PT-109 was referenced in the episode "Send Us A Hero".