Ensign O'Toole

Ensign O'Toole is a junior officer aboard the fictional destroyer USS Appleby in the peacetime United States Navy of the early 1960s. Also aboard the Appleby are the ship's executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Virgil Stoner; its supply officer, the rich and usually befuddled Lieutenant (junior grade) Rex St. John; and an assortment of zany crewmen, including Chief Petty Officer Homer Nelson — who always seems to be in search of a poker game and often butts heads with O'Toole — and Seamen Gabby Di Julio, Howard Spicer, and Claude White. The nonchalant O'Toole is clever, speaks several languages, can answer any trivia question, and expresses expertise in almost any subject that comes up, but avoids doing work, preferring to spend his time pulling pranks and showing up the ambitious and overbearing St. John, usually with the enthusiastic help of the crew. The Appleby′s commanding officer never appears on camera; usually Lieutenant Commander Stoner relays his orders to the crew, although sometimes the commanding officer's voice is heard over the ship's "squawk box." ==Cast==

• Dean Jones as Ensign O'Toole • Jay C. Flippen as Chief Petty Officer Homer Nelson • Jack Mullaney as Lieutenant (junior grade) Rex St. John • Jack Albertson as Lieutenant Commander Virgil Stoner • Harvey Lembeck as Seaman Gabby Di Julio • Beau Bridges as Seaman Howard Spicer • Bob Sorrells as Seaman Claude White • Stuart Margolin as Lieutenant Miller (recurring) • Skip Ward as Lieutenant Ferguson (recurring) • Ken Berry as Lieutenant Melton (recurring) • Gerald Trump as Crump (recurring) • Andrew Colmar as Naismith (recurring) • Eddie Peterson as Selby (recurring) ==Production==

, seen in April 1963, portrayed the fictional USS Appleby. ''Ensign O'Toole was based on two books — All the Ships at Sea (1950) and Ensign O'Toole and Me (1957) — by William Lederer, who served as consultant for the series. The destroyer portrayed the fictional USS Appleby''. ==Broadcast history==

''Ensign O'Toole premiered on NBC on September 23, 1962. Prime-time reruns of Ensign O'Toole'' followed in its regular time slot on NBC until September 15, 1963. The show aired at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday throughout its run. From March to September 1964, ABC ran prime-time reruns of ''Ensign O'Toole at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday. The last of these aired on September 10, 1964, before Bewitched'' took its time slot the following week. From April 2023, the series was shown in the United Kingdom on Talking Pictures TV. ==Episodes==