Hello! Love west wing, but have to query this from s04e08 Process Stories.
There is the $400 ashtray for use on a submarine that was designed to break in to three dull pieces when hit or subject to shock.
Why not use a metal ashtray???
A contemporaneous discussion of this issue on The Straight Dope Bulletin Board in November of 2002 was attended by several submariners, who indicated that the ashtrays on submarines were indeed made of aluminum.
Smoking on U.S. Navy submarines was finally prohibited on January 1, 2011.
Yes, it was a metaphor for those who don't understand why things cost so much when it comes to defense or space and the safety who go where others don't dare...
And answered, I see, by actual Sub-Mariners.