Lubbers Don't Live! Oh heave a sigh for gun crew eight, oh heave a sigh for lookout Jones

Navy training sheet in verse with two stories: a lookout whose battle-phone message is garbled while a sub appears and an explosion follows, and a gun crew fumbling knotted gun covers as aircraft attack. A blue 'Lubbers Don't Live!' banner divides them. The fear-appeal is comic, showing drill failures ending in disaster.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date: 1943
Period: Second World War
Made by: U.S. Navy, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Training Aids
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: Military
Regime: Roosevelt Administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience: Own forces
Purpose: Warn or inform
Theme: War and the military
Event: World War II
Regime: Roosevelt administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
Rights: Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Navy. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1309J (NAID 514931).

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

SLRB---GRMPH-LOFIN
REPEAT...?
BOOM!
OH HEAVE A SIGH FOR LOOKOUT JONES
HE COULDN'T TALK ON BATTLE PHONES
A SUB APPEARED-HE SAW IT, TOO...
ALAS, THE WORD DID NOT GET THRU
LUBBERS
DON'T LIVE!
LET'S HEAVE A SIGH FOR GUN CREW EIGHT-
IN EVERY DRILL THEIR WORK WAS GREAT;
'TILL SOMEONE TIED GUN COVERS TIGHT-
THEN KNOTS WERE FUMBLED THRU THE FIGHT!
[imprint:] U.S. NAVY, BUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEL, TRAINING AIDS · · · NAV. PERS. 900,008 A-10
[imprint:] ☆U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943-O-561903