Caine Mutiny, The - Herman Wouk [0]
BY HERMAN WOUK
Novels
The Caine Mutiny
The City Boy
Aurora Dawn
Plays
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
The Traitor
The Caine Mutiny
A NOVEL OF WORLD WAR II
by Herman Wouk
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1954
NOTE: This is a work of fiction in the historical setting of World War II. It contains errors of fact. Times and places of specific circumstances in actual military operations, names and missions of ships, and naval communication procedures have been distorted either to suit the story or to avoid inadvertent recounting of still classified information. All the persons and events aboard the Caine are imaginary. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental. No ship named U.S.S. Caine exists or existed. The records of thirty years show no instance of a court-martial resulting from the relief of a captain at sea under Article 184, 185, and 186 of the Naval Regulations. The fictitious figure of the deposed captain was contrived from a study of psychoneurotic case histories to motivate the central situation and is not a portrait of a real military person or a type. This statement is made in view of an existing tendency to seek lampoons of living people in fiction. The author served under two captains of the regular Navy in three years aboard destroyer-minesweepers, both of whom were decorated for valor. One comment on style: The general obscenity and blasphemy of shipboard talk have gone almost wholly unrecorded. This good-humored billingsgate is largely monotonous and not significant, mere verbal punctuation of a sort, and its appearance in print annoys some readers. The traces that remain are necessary where occurring.
Copyright, 1951, by Herman Wouk
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States
All photographs of the play are by Gene Howard-Hollywood. Photographs facing pages 39 and 318 are by Columbia Pictures Corporation. All other photographs are by Dennis Stock-Magnum Photos, Inc.
This tale is for my wife,
with all my love
From the Navy Regulations;
Article 184.
UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES.
It is conceivable that most unusual and extraordinary circumstances may arise in which the relief from duty of a commanding officer by a subordinate becomes necessary, either by placing him under arrest or on the sick list; but such action shall never be taken without the approval of the Navy Department or other appropriate higher authority, except when reference to such higher authority is undoubtedly impracticable because of the delay involved or for other clearly obvious reason. Such reference must set forth all facts in the case, and the reasons for the recommendation, with particular regard to the degree of urgency involved.
Article 185.
CONDITIONS TO FULFILL.
In order that a subordinate officer, acting upon his own initiative, may be vindicated for relieving a commanding officer from duty, the situation must be obvious and clear, and must admit of the single conclusion that the retention of command by such commanding officer will seriously and irretrievably prejudice the public interests. The subordinate officer so acting must be next in lawful succession to command; must be unable to refer the matter to a common superior for one of the reasons set down in Article 184; must be certain that the prejudicial actions of his commanding officer are not caused by secret instructions unknown to the subordinate; must have given the matter such careful consideration, and must have made such exhaustive investigation of all the circumstances, as may be practicable; and finally must be thoroughly convinced that the conclusion to relieve his commanding officer is one which a reasonable, prudent, and experienced officer would regard as a necessary consequence from the facts thus determined to exist.
Article 186.
RESPONSIBILITY.
Intelligently fearless initiative is an important trait of military character, and it is not the purpose to discourage its employment in cases of this nature. However, as the