The Book in Brief
While reorganizing Special Corps records, Slippery Jim diGriz notices that a supposed civilian ship on Cittanuvo reproduces the internal plan of a Warlord-class battleship. He wakes Inskipp, investigates the tranquil planet, and proves that President Ferraro knows nothing about the hidden project.
The builders have been manipulated by Pepe Nero and Angelina, who steal the completed ship and begin murderous raids. Because the battleship can defeat normal fleets, Jim poses as an admiral and spreads stories about a billionaire's gold-plated yacht carrying the supplies needed to found a private world.
Pepe takes the bait and captures the Eldorado. Jim uses magnetic locks and nuclear threats to hold the ships together, crosses the hull in a spacesuit, enters through an unprotected point, and arrests Pepe and Angelina in the control room.
Angelina pretends to be Pepe's coerced victim and escapes to a hidden scout while Jim watches him. Pepe then reveals that she designed the entire scheme and manipulated them both. The Navy recovers the battleship, but Jim vows that Angelina will not fool him again.
Important Characters
Slippery Jim diGriz: A master thief recruited by the Special Corps, combining criminal insight with spectacular self-confidence.
Inskipp: Head of the Special Corps and Jim's irritable superior.
Pepe Nero: The apparent mastermind behind the battleship theft, later revealed as Angelina's manipulated partner.
Angelina: The true architect of the scheme, using beauty, performance, and ruthlessness to control both Pepe and Jim.
President Ferraro: Cittanuvo's innocent leader, unaware that his world's project has been converted into a weapon.
Captain Steng: The skeptical naval officer forced to support Jim's unconventional pursuit.
Complete Story Summary
The complete short story is summarized as a single unit, following the Project Gutenberg edition.
Complete Story
Jim discovers that Cittanuvo is secretly building a Warlord-class battleship and proves its government has been deceived. After Pepe and Angelina steal the ship and kill during raids, Jim lures them with a gold-plated yacht, boards the captured vessel through a planned weakness, and takes Pepe; Angelina's escape and revelation as the true mastermind turn his victory bitter.
Ending Explained
Who planned the battleship scheme?: Angelina did. Pepe says she conceived the construction and theft and manipulated him through his love for her.
How does Angelina escape?: She performs helplessness, draws Jim's attention back to Pepe, and reaches a fast scout hidden aboard the battleship.
Does Jim recover the ship?: Yes. Naval forces arrive after Jim captures the control room, ending the battleship raids.
Why does victory taste like ashes?: Jim has recovered the strategic objective but realizes that Angelina successfully conned him, wounding the identity on which he prides himself.
Themes and Motifs
Crime as intelligence: Jim solves military danger by reading motives, designing bait, and thinking like a thief.
Ego: Pepe's need for a battleship and Jim's certainty in his judgment both create exploitable weaknesses.
Deception: Cittanuvo, the Navy, Pepe, and Jim each operate inside a false story constructed by someone else.
Performance and gender: Angelina weaponizes the expectation that a beautiful woman must be a coerced accomplice.
Force and finesse: The largest weapon in the galaxy is defeated through records, publicity, and a small boarding operation.
Content Notes
Includes mass killing, piracy, threatened nuclear detonation, guns, coercive criminal relationships, sexist assumptions, and law-enforcement pursuit.
About the Book
Best for: readers who like caper science fiction, con-artist heroes, and the Stainless Steel Rat's origins. Narrative shape: one complete short story — discovery, bait, boarding, and a sting in the tail. Central contrast: the galaxy's biggest weapon versus records work, publicity, and a thief's read of other thieves. Overall assessment: 4/5 for wit and construction at short length. Source-checked scope: 1 distinct reading unit in Project Gutenberg eBook #22541; no front matter was counted as narrative content.
Primary text: Harry Harrison, The Misplaced Battleship, Project Gutenberg eBook #22541. The complete text is a single unnumbered short story. The review, plot account, ending analysis, and the structural recap in this guide were checked against that edition.
Selection evidence: Project Gutenberg Top 100 EBooks in the last 30 days — rank #37 with 89,380 downloads in the August 3, 2026 snapshot. Books already completed in the preceding batches were excluded.