|
***MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE CAINE MUTINY BELOW*** After recently finishing the Caine Mutiny, I was left with some questions. The book hinges around article 184 of Navy Regulations which gives a subordinate authority to relieve the commander of a vessel if he's sick or requires arresting. In real life it seems as if this, or any equivalent regulation past or present, has never been used. In the book, it hadn't ever been used prior to the event on the ship in the story. I'm curious if anyone knows why it is never used. While I can understand the captain of a ship being a rigorous position that anyone unqualified should have been weeded out for, there are many small ships and I'm sure many of them have faced dangerous situations in combat or through natural disasters on the seas and verifying the behavior of assigned captains under all ranges of circumstances isn't possible. It seems incredulous that there wouldn't have been someone like Captain Queeg of the Caine who at some point cracked under pressure and made a bad decision that would have had to be overridden for survival of the crew. Alternatively, not addressed in the book, some unethical action may be ordered that would result in the arrest of the commanding officer. Reasons I could imagine that have kept it from being used are perhaps: 1. A ship is seldom out of contact range of other ships and any bad order can be overridden by a superior officer on another ship. 2. Outside of combat, life-threatening situations seldom occur without advanced warning and plans of action. 3. There exists a method for overriding a dangerous command decision like Queeg's insistence of maintaining course in the typhoon without relieving the captain. 4. Evaluation of ship commanders is more rigorous in actuality and would have resulted in a captain like Queeg getting transferred far earlier than he lasted in the story. 5. The fear of a court martial is so great that some people have allowed and followed bad decisions resulting in destruction of a ship without relieving the commander. Does anyone who has any knowledge about the Navy processes and regulations have any insight into this?
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 04:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 19:12 |
|
|
A point of history it helps to realize. The Caine Mutiny was set during WW2. The current US military justice system, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, dates from after WW2. The Article 184 of Navy Regulations the book refers to, if it is an accurate reference (I have no idea), is referring to regulations from around World War One at the absolute latest, a compilation the Navy referred to as "Rocks and Shoals". (It was literally as old as the Navy in some places. As in, yes, some of the regulations had been written around the 1790s.) I sincerely doubt anyone here will be able to give you a good answer to any of your questions, decent though they are.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2018 02:11
|
|
|
the guy you want is named Vincent Van Goatse, he wrote his phd thesis on ww2. he has PMs. you can also try the milhist thread, which is where we all hang out.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2018 09:43
|
|
|
Or that. Thanks Hey Guns. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2018 11:48
|
|
|
"Keep your zipper up and don't trade paint", I believe is the bar for captains to be fired
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2018 17:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 19:12 |
|
|
Rum, sodomy, and the lash.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2018 19:22
|
|
