Talk:The Caine Mutiny

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De Vriess .. "at the helm of" the Caine?? (Etc!)[edit]

Is it really ordinary usage to describe a ship's CO as "at the helm of" the ship? American rather than British English is obviously appropriate for this article - and, more specifically, USN rather than RN usage - and I speak Brit so my opinion carries no weight. I might not be wrong, though? - and to me it seems very odd.

And even if within USN usage, the phrase is perhaps best avoided here? - an important plot event concerns the captain blaming a helmsman for a parted towline. (The same helmsman was also on duty during the crucial command incident during the typhoon, and so was a prospective defendant in the trial(s) pencilled-in to follow the XO's court-martial.)

And - while I'm sharing reactions to details! - it surprises me tht the plot summaries, here or for the movie, don't give more emphasis to that parted-towline incident. The value of the towed target receives due attention. But simply steaming a full circle - very obvious, simply from noticing the wake - will have damaged command credibility in the eyes of every rank and role aboard (and exposed the crew as a whole to other ships' ridicule and associated bar brawls etc, once it became known of). Beyond that, running over a tow-line risks getting it wrapped round the screw (and/or rudder). In a single-screw ship this risk amounts to 'endangering your vessel', which no Navy views cheerily. Granted, the Clemsons were twin-screw ships, so it would take a very unlucky day for the ship to be disabled; but a small ship like Caine would not have carried divers etc, so even a single screw, badly fouled, would have put her briefly out of service for a harbour repair. It's a really serious failure of seamanship. I don't have the novel available to check .. does it not touch on these aspects?

And finally - I'm seeing interesting parallels and contrasts between the 'not-very-guilty' outcome to Maryk's conduct-to-the-prejudice court-martial, with its impact on his Naval career, and the Inquiry into Adml Halsey's unlucky decision regarding Task Force 38 as Typhoon Cobra approached. (The month after the typhoon, Halsey passed command of the Third Fleet to Spruance.) We obviously can't jst chuck our own thoughts into the mix; but have any respected critics made the connection? 2A04:B2C2:405:EB00:2178:8EF:5560:C8DB (talk) 03:31, 4 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]