Mr. Push-a-Button, a 1961 U.S. Navy film about the education and responsibilities of a Naval officer, starts with images of the U.S. Navy’s mothball or reserve fleet, as a Navy officer receives new orders transferring him from reserve duties to the fleet and in particular, managing one of the U.S. Navy’s new surface-to-air guided missile systems aboard the cruiser USS Canberra CA-70. The title of the film comes from the fear that the officer in the film expresses that “men are being replaced by machines” and that automation will replace men in the Navy. He realizes over the course of the film (and during an odd dream sequence seen at 15:20) that nothing can replace the human element when it comes to managing shipboard systems. The film is primarily about managing crewmen aboard ship, and the complex role of an officer thrust into a new position with which he has little experience. At 22:43, a full scale alert drill is undertaken aboard ship.
The weapon system seen in the film appears to be the Terrier, The Convair RIM-2 Terrier was a two-stage medium-range naval surface-to-air missile (SAM), and was among the earliest surface-to-air missiles to equip United States Navy ships. It underwent significant upgrades while in service, starting with a beam-riding system with 10 nautical miles (19 km) range at a speed of Mach 1.8, and ending as a semi-active radar homing system with a range of 40 nautical miles (74 km) at speeds as high as Mach 3. It was replaced in service by the RIM-67 Standard ER (SM-1ER).
Features images of USS Hartley DE-1029, USS Warrington DD-843, USS Joseph P. Kennedy DD-850, and USS Intrepid CV-11 appears at the 21:00 mark.
The film was produced by Lieutenant Commander Edward Wayne “Brad” Bradford, who also made “A Day in the Life of the President” featuring John F. Kennedy.
USS Canberra (CA-70/CAG-2) was a Baltimore-class cruiser and later a Boston-class guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. Originally to be named USS Pittsburgh, the ship was renamed before launch to honor the loss of the Australian cruiser HMAS Canberra during the Battle of Savo Island. USS Canberra is the only USN warship named for a foreign warship or a foreign capital city.
The ship entered service in 1943, and served in the Pacific theater of World War II until she was torpedoed during the Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa and forced to return to the United States for repairs. Placed in reserve after the war, Canberra was selected for conversion into the second guided-missile carrying warship in the USN fleet. Following the conversion, she was host to the ceremony for selecting the Unknown Soldier representing World War II in 1958, undertook an eight-month round-the-world cruise in 1960, participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis naval blockade in 1962, and was deployed to the Vietnam War on five occasions between 1965 and 1969.
Canberra was decommissioned in 1970, struck in 1978, and broken up in 1980. One of her propellers is preserved at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, while the ship’s bell was donated to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2001.
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