Sentence:  “...the Navy's supposed to give me a ship that goes, and a captain that fights—— That's what all this muck is for, isn't it?” /  “Look, it's an old story by now. We're stuck with a <WSD>lemon</WSD>. Misfortune of war....” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A defective or inadequate item or individual.