The Caine Mutiny
Encyclopedia
- For the Broadway play, see The Caine Mutiny Court-MartialThe Caine Mutiny Court-MartialThe Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is a two-act play by Herman Wouk, which he adapted from his own novel, The Caine Mutiny.Wouk's novel covered a long stretch of time aboard the USS Caine, a Navy minesweeper in the Pacific...
.
The Caine Mutiny is a 1952 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
winning novel by Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...
. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard a destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and deals with, among other things, the moral and ethical decisions made at sea by the captains of ships. The mutiny of the title is legalistic, not violent, and takes place during a historic typhoon in December 1944. The court-martial that results provides the dramatic climax to the plot.
The Caine Mutiny reached the top of the New York Times best seller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
on August 12, 1951, after 17 weeks on the list, replacing From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity (novel)
From Here to Eternity is the debut novel by James Jones, winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1952. It was ranked 62 on Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels. It is loosely based on Jones' experiences in the pre-World War II Hawaiian Division's 27th Infantry and the unit in which...
. It remained atop the list for 32 weeks until March 30, 1952, when it was replaced by My Cousin Rachel
My Cousin Rachel
My Cousin Rachel is a novel by British author Daphne du Maurier, published in 1951. Like the earlier Rebecca, it is a mystery-romance, largely set on a large estate in Cornwall.-Plot overview:...
. It moved back to first place on May 25, 1952, and remained another 15 weeks, before being supplanted by The Silver Chalice
The Silver Chalice
The Silver Chalice is a 1952 English language historical novel by Thomas B. Costain. It is the fictional story of the making of a silver chalice to hold the Holy Grail and includes 1st century biblical and historical figures: Luke, Joseph of Arimathea, Simon Magus and his companion Helena, and the...
, and last appeared on August 23, 1953, after 122 weeks on the list.
Plot summary
The story is told through the eyes of Willis Seward "Willie" Keith, an affluent, callow young man who signs up for midshipman school with the United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
to avoid being drafted into the Army during World War II. The first part of the novel introduces Willie and describes the tribulations he endures because of inner conflicts over his relationship with his domineering mother and with May Wynn, a beautiful red-haired nightclub singer who is the daughter of Italian immigrants. After barely surviving a series of misadventures that earn him the highest number of demerits in the history of the school, he is commissioned and assigned to the destroyer minesweeper
Destroyer minesweeper
Destroyer minesweeper was a designation given by the United States Navy to a series of destroyers that were converted into high-speed ocean-going minesweepers for service during World War II. The hull number for such a ship began "DMS"...
USS Caine, an obsolete warship converted from a World War I-era Clemson class destroyer
Clemson class destroyer
The Clemson class was a series of 156 destroyers which served with the United States Navy from after World War I through World War II.The Clemson-class ships were commissioned by the United States Navy from 1919 to 1922, built by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, New York Shipbuilding...
.
Willie, with a low opinion of the ways of the Navy, misses his ship when it leaves on a combat assignment, and rather than catch up with it, ducks his duties to play piano for an admiral who has taken a shine to him. He has second thoughts after reading a last letter from his father, who has died of melanoma
Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
, but soon forgets his guilt in the round of parties at the admiral's house. Eventually, he reports aboard the Caine. Though the ship has successfully carried out its combat missions in Keith's absence, the ensign immediately disapproves of its decaying condition and slovenly crew, which he attributes to a slackness of discipline by the ship's longtime captain, Lieutenant Commander William De Vriess.
Willie's lackadaisical attitude toward what he considers menial and repetitive duties brings about a humiliating clash with De Vriess when Willie forgets to decode a communications message which serves notice that De Vriess will soon be relieved. While Willie is still pouting over his punishment, De Vriess is relieved by Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg
Captain Queeg
Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg, USN, is a fictional character in Herman Wouk's 1951 novel The Caine Mutiny. He is also a character in the identically titled 1954 film adaptation of the novel and in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, the Broadway theatre adaptation of the novel that opened...
, a strong, by-the-book figure whom Willie at first believes to be just what the rusty Caine and its rough-necked crew needs. But Queeg has never handled a ship like this before, and he soon makes a series of errors, which he is unwilling to admit to. The Caine is sent to San Francisco for an overhaul, not for any merit by Queeg, but in an admiral's hope that the captain will make further mistakes someplace else. Before departing, Queeg browbeats his officers into selling their liquor rations to him. In a breach of regulations, Queeg smuggles the liquor off the ship and when it is lost by a series of careless mistakes blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
s Willie into paying for it by threatening to withhold his shore leave. Willie sees May on leave, and after sleeping with her, decides he has no future with a woman of a lower social class. He resolves to dump her by not replying to her letters.
As the Caine begins its missions under his command, Queeg loses the respect of his crew through a series of incidents:
- He grounds the ship on his first sailing, then attempts to cover it up while blaming his helmsman, Gunner's Mate 2nd Class John Stillwell.
- He causes the loss of a gunnery target sled by steaming over, and cutting, the target's towline while distracted by a petty disciplinary action--a sailor's loose shirt-tail--and again blames Stillwell.
- He hounds and court-martials Stillwell for being absent without leave, rigging the court-martial in an effort to convict Stillwell, whose sentence of forfeiture of six liberties (Stillwell is already confined to the Caine for half a year) amounts to an acquittal.
- Twice, when under fire, he leaves a battle area, once abandoning troops under his protection to fend for themselves.
- He suffers severe migraine headaches and rarely leaves his cabin.
- And he becomes obsessed over the theft of a quart of frozen strawberries missing from a gallon the Caine had received from the U.S.S. Bridge, reliving an episode from early in his career in which he had solved a shipboard theft and received a letter of commendation.
He is regarded as tyrannical, cowardly, and incompetent. Tensions aboard the ship lead Queeg to ask his officers for support, but they snub him as unworthy, believing him an oppressive coward.
The crew refers to Queeg as "Old Yellowstain" following the invasion of Kwajalein
Battle of Kwajalein
The Battle of Kwajalein was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought from 31 January-3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of...
. The Caine, ordered to escort low-lying Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
landing craft
Landing craft
Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...
to their line of departure, instead drops a yellow dye marker to mark the spot when Queeg fears the ship has come too close to shore under fire, then leaves the area. The sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
, a double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
, refers to both the dye marker and his apparent cowardice.
Communications officer Lieutenant Thomas Keefer, an intellectual former magazine writer and budding novelist who has chafed under Queeg's authority, and initially portrayed as a sympathetic, if not heroic character, plants the suggestion that Queeg might be mentally ill in the mind of the Caine's executive officer, Lieutenant Stephen Maryk, "diagnosing" Queeg as a paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
. He also steers Maryk to "section 184" of the Navy Regulations
United States Navy Regulations
United States Navy Regulations is the principal regulatory document of the Department of the Navy, endowed with the sanction of law, as to duty, responsibility, authority, distinctions and relationships of various commands, officials and individuals...
, according to which a subordinate can relieve a commanding officer for mental illness in extraordinary circumstances.
Maryk keeps a secret log of Queeg's eccentric behavior and decides to bring it to the attention of Admiral William F. Halsey, commanding the Third Fleet
Third Fleet
The name Third Fleet can refer to:* United States 3rd Fleet* Third Fleet , part of the British effort of the late eighteenth century to colonise Australia* IJN 3rd Fleet, Imperial Japanese Navy...
. Keefer reluctantly supports Maryk, then gets cold feet and backs out, warning Maryk his actions will be seen as mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
. In this scene Keefer is shown to be cowardly. Soon after, the Caine is with the fleet when it is caught in the path of Typhoon Cobra, a terrible ordeal that ultimately sinks three destroyers and causes great damage and loss of life. At the height of the storm, Queeg's apparent paralysis of action convinces Maryk that he must relieve Queeg of command on the grounds of mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
in order to prevent the loss of the Caine. Willie Keith, on duty as the Officer of the Deck
Officer of the Deck
Officer of the deck is a position in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard that confers certain authority and responsibility. The officer of the deck on a ship is the direct representative of the captain, having responsibility for the ship.-Overview:In port, the OOD is stationed on...
, supports the decision, although his decision (as he later realizes) is based on the hatred he has developed for Captain Queeg. The Caine is ultimately saved, apparently by Maryk's timely decision and expert seamanship.
Maryk and Willie are charged at court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
with conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline
General article (military law)
A general article, in military law is a legal provision that authorizes punishment of military personnel on grounds that are less specific as to the particulars of the offense and as to the punishment, compared to most crimes in modern West European law...
, a catch-all charge, instead of making a mutiny. When Maryk is tried first, Keefer distances himself, even though he has no Navy career in mind, and shows himself to be a moral coward. Lieutenant Barney Greenwald, a Jewish naval aviator
Naval Aviator
A United States Naval Aviator is a qualified pilot in the United States Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard.-Naming Conventions:Most Naval Aviators are Unrestricted Line Officers; however, a small number of Limited Duty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers are also trained as Naval Aviators.Until 1981...
who was a crack attorney in civilian life and who has been grounded for medical reasons after being injured in a plane crash, is appointed to represent Maryk. His opinion, after the captain was found to be sane by three Navy psychiatrists
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, is that Maryk was legally unjustified in relieving Queeg. Despite his own disgust with Maryk's and Willie's actions, Greenwald decides to take the case.
During the trial, Greenwald unrelentingly cross-examines Queeg until he is overcome by the stress and displays a confused inability to handle the situation. Greenwald's tactic of attacking Queeg results in Maryk's acquittal and the dropping of charges against Willie. Maryk, who had aspired to a career in the regular navy
Unrestricted Line Officer
Unrestricted Line Officers are commissioned Officers of the Line in the United States Navy who are qualified to command at sea the Navy's warfighting combatant units such as warships, submarines, aviation squadrons and SEAL Teams...
, is sent to command a Landing craft infantry
Landing Craft Infantry
The Landing craft, Infantry or LCI were several classes of sea-going amphibious assault ships of the Second World War utilized to land large numbers of infantry directly onto beaches. They were developed in response to a British request for a vessel capable of carrying and landing substantially...
, a humiliation which ends his naval career ambitions, while Queeg is transferred to an obscure naval supply depot in Iowa.
At a party celebrating both the acquittal and Keefer's success at selling his novel to a publisher, Greenwald shows up intoxicated, and accuses Keefer of being a coward. He tells the gathering that he feels ashamed of having destroyed Queeg on the stand, because Queeg did the necessary duty of guarding America in the peacetime Navy, which people like Keefer (and by implication, Willie), saw as beneath them. Greenwald further points out that without the protection of people like Queeg, Greenwald's mother could have been "melted down into a bar of soap," which is what he says is happening to the Jews under Hitler's reign in Europe. Greenwald tells the gathering that he had to "torpedo Queeg" because "the wrong man was on trial"--that it was Keefer, not Maryk, who was "the true author of 'The Caine Mutiny.'" Greenwald throws a glass of champagne in Keefer's face, thereby bringing the term "Old Yellowstain" full circle back to the novelist.
Willie returns to the Caine in the last days of the Okinawa campaign
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
as its executive officer. Most of the officers have been transferred to other ships. Keefer is now the captain, succeeding a trouble-shooter from the Regular Navy who had restored order to the crew. Ironically, Keefer's behavior as captain is similar to Queeg's. The Caine is struck by a kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
, an event in which Willie discovers that he has matured into a naval officer. Keefer panics and orders the ship abandoned, but Willie remains aboard and rescues the situation.
Keefer is sent home after the war ends, ashamed of his cowardly behavior during the kamikaze attack. Ironically, Keefer's brother, Roland Keefer, had saved his ship from a kamikaze fire. Willie becomes the last captain of the Caine. He soon receives a medal for his actions following the kamikaze--and a letter of reprimand
Letter of reprimand
A letter of reprimand is a United States Department of Defense procedure involving a letter to an employee or soldier from his or her superior that details the wrongful actions of the person and the punishment that can be expected...
for his part in unlawfully relieving Queeg. The findings of the court-martial have been overturned after a review by higher authority. Willie discovers that he agrees that the relief was unjustified and probably unnecessary.
Willie keeps the Caine afloat during another typhoon and brings it back to Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
, for decommissioning after the end of the war. After reflecting at length, he decides to ask May (now a blonde and using her real name of Marie Minotti) to marry him. However, this will not be as easy as he once thought it would be, as she is now the girlfriend of a popular bandleader. Willie faces a challenge just as great as the one he has overcome.
Historical Background
The two ships that author Herman WoukHerman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...
served on in the Pacific were destroyer-minesweepers converted from World War I-era Clemson-class destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s, the USS Zane
USS Zane (DD-337)
USS Zane was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for Randolph Zane.-History:...
and USS Southard
USS Southard (DD-207)
USS Southard was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second Navy ship named for Secretary of the Navy Samuel L...
(Wouk uses the latter name for one of his characters in the novel; in an allusion to history professor Jacques Barzun
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
of his alma mater, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Wouk also has Queeg refer to a previous assignment he had on a ship named the Barzun). The USS Caine, as described, fits the description of such a Clemson-class
Clemson class destroyer
The Clemson class was a series of 156 destroyers which served with the United States Navy from after World War I through World War II.The Clemson-class ships were commissioned by the United States Navy from 1919 to 1922, built by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, New York Shipbuilding...
DMS conversion. This class of ship was named for U.S. Navy Midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
Henry A. Clemson, lost at sea on 8 December 1846, when the brig USS Somers
USS Somers (1842)
The second USS Somers was a brig in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War, infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions....
capsized off Vera Cruz in a sudden squall while chasing a blockade runner. In November 1842, the USS Somers was the scene of the only recorded conspiracy to mutiny in U.S. Naval history (the Somers Affair
USS Somers (1842)
The second USS Somers was a brig in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War, infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions....
) when three members of the crew—a midshipman, a boatswain's mate, and a seaman—were clapped in irons and subsequently hanged for planning a takeover of the vessel.
Many of the incidents and plot details are autobiographical. Like both Keefer and Willie, Wouk rose through the ship's wardroom
Wardroom
The wardroom is the mess-cabin of naval commissioned officers above the rank of Midshipman. The term the wardroom is also used to refer to those individuals with the right to occupy that wardroom, meaning "the officers of the wardroom"....
of Zane from assistant communicator to first lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
, and then was executive officer
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
of the Southard, recommended to captain the ship home to the United States at the end of the war before it was beached at Okinawa in a typhoon.
Adaptations
The film The Caine MutinyThe Caine Mutiny (film)
The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 American drama film set during World War II, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer. It stars Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, and is based on the 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk The Caine Mutiny. The film...
was based on the novel and starred Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
as Queeg.
After the novel's success, the court-martial sequence was adapted into a full-length, two-act Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
play, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, by author Herman Wouk. Directed by Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
, it was a success on the stage in 1954, opening almost exactly five months before the release of the film. The stage version starred Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American film and television actor.-Biography:Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Margaret and James Nolan, who was a shoe manufacturer...
as Queeg, John Hodiak
John Hodiak
John Hodiak was an American actor who worked in radio and film.-Early life:He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Walter Hodiak and Anna Pogorzelec . He was of Ukrainian and Polish descent...
as Maryk, and Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
as Greenwald. It has been revived twice on Broadway, and was presented on television in 1955, as a live presentation, and in 1988, as a made-for-television film.
See also
- QueegQueeg (Red Dwarf episode)"Queeg" is the fifth episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf series two and the eleventh in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel BBC2 on 4 October 1988. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye, the plot features a backup computer named Queeg that...
- An episode of the UK sitcom series Red DwarfRed DwarfRed Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series... - Typhoon Cobra (1944), the typhoon described in the book.
External links
- Study Guide of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny from SparkNotesSparkNotesSparkNotes, originally part of a website called The Spark, is a company started by Harvard students Sam Yagan, Max Krohn, Chris Coyne, and Eli Bolotin in 1999 that originally provided study guides for literature, poetry, history, film, and philosophy...
- Raising Caine, video of Wouk reflecting on the novel on its 50th anniversary.
- Photos of the first edition of The Caine Mutiny