The Nation: Navel Maneuver

Had the U.S. Navy stuffily forgotten a part of the heralded past of the great ships at sea? Last July, Commander Connelly D. Stevenson, 41, permitted a comely go-go dancer to do her uninhibited stuff—topless—aboard his Finback, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, which was docked at Port Canaveral, Fla. Some of the crew figured that the harmless little maneuver would spur morale, and Stevenson went along with the invitation. Indeed, after the ten-minute performance, enthusiastic crew members shouted, hooted and stamped their approval; and the dancer, Cat Futch, 23, got a thank-you buss from Stevenson.

Wind of the incident wafted back to his superiors in Norfolk, and Stevenson was relieved of his command “for cause.” His kiss on Cat’s cheek, said the Navy brass, “tended to demean the position” he held. Stevenson had even, huffed the Navy, taken up a collection for the dancer from the crew, and “that was in bad taste.”

Had the Navy popped its cork? Through the ages many a great vessel has been adorned with a topless if wooden dame of the sea. And last week at a cocktail reception before a “Circus Saints and Sinners” charity luncheon in Washington, two bare-breasted belly dancers were ogled by, among others, a sprinkling of admirals and generals. Little wonder that Stevenson has sought legal counsel to have his post restored and the letter of reprimand removed from his file.