You could probably argue the whole mess was probably the Navys fault all along..who in their right mind posts such an unstable man to command a ship at such a critical time in the war?? By the way,do you recall exactly what type of ship it was??
shareIt was a minesweeper, which was not one of the top line ships, but a more obsolete form of vessel. Also, it's important to remember that Queeg had up to the time of this assignment had a perfectly competent record that included two years of combat duty in the Atlantic that made him seemingly logical for a command at this point. One needs to remember that what brought out Queeg's worst behavior was the magnitude of his first command, and that these traits had been submerged previously when he'd not had those responsibilities. To blame the Navy for giving him a command is really to miss the point of who and what Queeg was before he got the command.
shareThat's right.
In the film it's hard to remember because of Humphrey Bogart's age (54-55 at the time and looked every day of it), but Queeg was supposed to be a rather young man. In the novel, it's mentioned that he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1936. So, he'd be around 29 or 30 when he took command of the Caine. It was his first command and while he'd had a spotless record in subordinate positions, he was wholly unsuited to command of a ship.
As Keefer realized and described later in the novel, what makes command a nightmare for some is the knowledge that one small mistake can kill everyone on board. Some officers -like DeVriess- don't have the imagination to let it bother them and -ironically- have an instinctiveness for doing the job properly. Queeg, though, had enough imagination to allow it to eat away at him. It was aggravated by not feeling support from his wardroom.
At the court martial, the President of the Court questions one of the psychiatrists about Queeg's condition and how debilitating it could be. He asks if it's possible that Queeg might be able to handle the normal stresses of command but during moments of EXTREME stress (combat, the typhoon) he might suffer a temporary collapse. The psychiatrist concedes that's a distinct possibility.
So, prior to being sent to the Caine, Queeg would have not shown any indication he would've been a bad captain. He had years of duty at sea, he'd earned excellent fitness reports while serving in subordinate positions -communications, gunnery, etc. And, he'd had two years of combat service as well. So far as the Navy's Bureau of Personnel was concerned, Queeg was likely a perfect candidate to be given a ship of his own.
He was likely given the Caine -an obsolete vessel of World War I vintage- to see how he performed. If he did a good job, he'd have been moved up to larger and more modern vessels, allowing the Caine to be commanded by Maryk or Keefer. (The novel states that by the beginning of 1944, the older vessels like Caine were starting to be commanded by Reserve officers and the Academy men were being kept on the bigger, modern vessels). If -as was the case- he didn't perform well, he was sort of left to stagnate until the Bureau got around to relieving him.
Pressed for manpower, Queeg's record was suitable for a command, so he was given the Caine . . . what happened aboard that vessel was not of his making . . .
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