 However , his official Navy service records indicate that " his military performance was , at times , substandard " , that he was only awarded a handful of campaign medals and that he was never injured or wounded in combat and was never awarded a Purple Heart . Most of his military service was spent ashore in the continental United States on administrative or training duties . He briefly commanded two anti @-@ submarine vessels , the USS YP @-@ 422 and USS PC @-@ 815 , in coastal waters off Massachusetts , Oregon and California in 1942 and 1943 respectively . He was removed from command of both vessels and rated by his superiors as being unsuitable for independent duties and " lacking in the essential qualities of judgment , leadership and cooperation " . Although Hubbard asserted that he had attacked and crippled or sunk two Japanese submarines off Oregon while in command of the USS PC @-@ 815 , his claim was rejected by the commander of the Northwest Sea Frontier after a subsequent investigation . He was hospitalized for the last seven months of his active service , not with injuries but with an acute duodenal ulcer . 
