Judge — November 18, 1922 — page 14: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge cartoon depicts a U.S. Navy battleship (marked "U.S.N.") anchored in what appears to be a narrow, rocky waterway or harbor. The illustration shows a single sailor operating the vessel alone, depicted in the act of manning multiple positions simultaneously—suggesting he must serve as both crew and captain. The title and caption ("I am the crew and the captain too") reference the nursery rhyme "Rub-a-dub-dub," adapting it to critique severe naval understaffing. The cartoon satirizes the U.S. Navy's chronic manpower shortage, likely during the pre-WWI era or early twentieth century. The cramped setting and dangerous rocks emphasize the peril of operating a warship without adequate personnel—a serious vulnerability for national defense that Judge's readers would have recognized as a legitimate policy failure.