Hubbard completed this "shakedown cruise" by firing on a fortunately uninhabited Mexican island. He was removed from command, and Rear Admiral Braisted wrote in a fitness report, "Consider this officer lacking in the essential qualities of judgment, leadership and cooperation. He acts without forethought as to probable results ... Not considered qualified for command or promotion at this time. Recommend duty on a large vessel where he can be properly supervised."
The advice was followed, and Hubbard served briefly as a navigation officer aboard the USS Algol, before its departure from U.S. waters. Hubbard was one of hundreds of officers transferred to the School of Military Government on the Campus of Princeton University. This was to lead to Hubbard's later and completely false boast to have graduated from Princeton. In a more candid moment, Hubbard said that he "flunked" his overseas examination.
WAR WOUNDS
At different times, anywhere from 21 to 27 medals have been claimed for Hubbard, including a Purple Heart, awarded only to those wounded in combat. Not only was Hubbard not wounded, but apart from his imaginary submarine battle, he never saw combat. He received four routine service medals for his duty in Australia and the U.S.
In an article called "My Philosophy", Hubbard claimed to have been "blinded with injured optic nerves, and lame with physical injuries to hip and back, at the end of World War II ... My Service record stated ... `permanently disabled physically'."
Elsewhere, Hubbard said that a few days before the end of the war, he managed to get the better of three petty officers in a fight in Hollywood.
In contradictory accounts, Hubbard claimed to have spent either one or two years at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, developing Dianetics and curing his injuries through its use. The origin of Dianetics is obscured by conflicting Scientology accounts, which variously assert that his recovery came in 1944, 1947 or 1949.