The Deep Six is a 1953 novel by Martin Dibner (1911-1992) describing the experiences of a group of U.S. Navy sailors fighting in the Aleutian Islands Campaign in 1943 during World War II. The novel, based on the author's experiences serving in the light cruiser USS Richmond during the same campaign, is written in a terse Hemingwayesque style and was a contemporary of Nicholas Monsarrat's novel The Cruel Sea and The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. The novel reached the New York Times Bestseller List for the week of September 6, 1953, ranked 16th in sales, and appeared six times on the list until October 18, fluctuating between 14th and 16th.
A third person narrative, the novel is written primarily from the point of view of Alec Austen, an artist obsessed with his painting who joins the navy to escape personal conflicts at the advertising agency at which he works. He is assigned duty as an assistant gunnery officer aboard the USS Atlantis, a light cruiser identical to Richmond. The novel explores several themes, among them abuse of authority by officers; racial discrimination; the clinging of the regular navy early in the war to archaic customs and traditions which are detrimental to morale and the safety of a ship in combat; homosexual rape aboard ship; and the assignment of incompetent or marginally qualified regular officers to positions of trust and authority in an expanded wartime navy. The second half of novel covers a 36-hour period aboard Atlantis in which all the themes come to a head, culminating in a surface battle closely resembling the Battle of the Komandorski Islands.
Motion picture rights to The Deep Six were purchased by Jaguar Productions in 1955 and became a feature film starring Alan Ladd as Austen. The film version transformed the cruiser into a destroyer and created a plot line that did not exist in the book, using Austen's Quaker background as a starting point for a theme of pacifism versus duty during war. The title is a reference to burial at sea, i.e. "given the deep six."
Contents
Plot summary
During a gunnery drill aboard the light cruiser USS Atlantis, on patrol west of the Aleutian Islands, a gun barrel of a dual 40mm mount explodes, killing one member of the gun crew and seriously injuring two others. The ship's gunnery officer, Lieutenant Commander Dooley, is terrified by gunfire and accidentally breaks his leg trying to flee the vicinity after the explosion. The gun captain, Frenchy Shapiro, acts promptly to prevent further disaster by unloading the other gun. The officer in charge of the gun mount, Lieutenant (junior grade) Alec Austen, praises Shapiro in his report but avoids any hint of Dooley's cowardly behavior. The Atlantis returns to Adak to send the injured ashore and obtain a new gun barrel.
An artist in civilian life, Austen is resentful of being manipulated by Captain Meredith, the skipper of the Atlantis, into painting his portrait, since the favoritism inherent in the situation makes him perceived to be the captain's pet. At Adak the captain sends Austen ashore to pick up a new gun barrel for the 40mm but actually wants him to obtain molding for fashioning a frame for his portrait. This draws the resentment of both the ship's executive officer, jealous of Austen's access to the captain, and the officer of the deck, Ensign Mike Edge, a former enlisted man contemptuous of "trade school" reserve officers such as Austen. Austen succeeds in acquiring the picture frame but not the gun barrel because the Army general in command on Adak countermands the order for the barrel to make room on the cargo plane for a cow to provide himself with fresh milk.
The ship's surgeon, Commander Blanchard, a secret and prolific drinker, admires Austen for the humane manner in which he supervises his enlisted men. Returning together to the ship, the doctor shares a drink of whiskey with him and the freezing boat crew. Austen discovers that one of his men, Slobodjian, has jumped ship to sneak ashore with them and tries to smuggle him back aboard. Edge, however, observes them and to spite Austen, charges Slobodjian with desertion. Austen's 40mm crew is now short four men. Captain Meredith goes ashore for a social visit that night and becomes drunk, vomiting all over himself in the captain's gig. Embarrassed, he blames its crew and orders the coxswain arrested. Later a contrite Meredith is relieved that Austen was the OD and disobeyed the order.
Admiral Marcy, the task force commander, comes aboard with his staff and Atlantis sails without a replacement gun barrel. Marcy questions the capability of the old cruiser to carry out its assignment of blockading Japanese-held islands, warning Meredith that a major surface battle is likely to ensue on this patrol. The captain, who has cultivated the loyalty of his men, defends ship and crew, pointing out that recent replacements were entirely "the Navy's scum", sent to the ship in lieu of imprisonment, and that the remainder of the crew has had its morale undermined by the endless patrolling in Alaskan waters, without hope of change of mission, transfer, or a refit in the United States. In his stateroom, Austen learns from his roommate that the executive officer inspected their room as it they were still midshipmen and threatened disciplinary action. The Negro room steward changing their linen, Homer Fowler, reveals he is trained in gunnery on the 40mm and despite the racial segregation aboard ship, Austen offers him a spot on his undermanned gun crew.
Characters
Leading characters
Alec Austen - Austen is a headstrong man in his mid-twenties whose parents are Quakers. While he is not, he retains the decency towards his fellow man and antipathy to violence that both, but particularly his father, instilled in him. Austen resists the efforts of superiors to make him a martinet, sometimes to the point of insubordination, and befriends the men of the Fourth Division, who are also his gun crew. In particular he becomes close to his leading petty officer. Austen handles his crew of rough, undereducated men with intelligence, resourcefulness, and tact, earning their respect, and builds a disciplined combat team. While he loves Stella Greyne, his devotion to his art provides him an alternative to her unfaithful ways.
Stella Greyne - Stella, coming from a poor family in a small town, is beautiful (by inference; she is never described), intelligent and ambitious. Godfrey Clemson lifted her out of her poverty, changed her ethic surname to "Greyne," culturally educated her, and provides her with a plush apartment and limitless material pleasures in return for being his mistress. She finds Clemson repulsive. Stella perceives herself as a whore because she denies neither Godfrey's unwanted or Alec's welcomed sexual advances. Stella often drinks too much in a futile attempt to overcome self-loathing and a penchant for soft living and sexual temptation.
Frenchy Shapiro - Frenchy is a Brooklyn Jew who joined the Navy eight years before to escape from and at the same time provide for a shrewish wife and a daughter with cerebral palsy. Shapiro and Austen become close friends despite their disparate backgrounds and his subordinate position as Austen's leading petty officer. Frenchy does not hesitate to fight to exert his authority, winning by outlasting his opponents. He is fiercely loyal to Austen and engenders the same from the sailors under him.
Warrington E. Meredith - "Snooky" Meredith is a third-generation Annapolis man whose father and grandfather were both killed in combat. Meredith hates sea duty and after he accidentally ran his first command aground, was banished to shore billets that suited his need for social acceptance. He married well and enjoyed the Navy lifestyle until an unfavorable reputation among his peers compelled him to return to a sea command, which he receives just as the Atlantis arrives in the Aleutians. He is overweight, often must consult other officers before making decisions and is perceived by most as weak until he is tested in battle.
Supporting characters
The executive officer - The unnamed second-in-command of the Atlantis and a Regular Navy commander showing signs of severe strain, the executive officer is a "thin man with the face of a shingle," entirely humorless, with a near pathological obsession for neatness. He notes every perceived infraction by subordinate officers in a small black notebook he always carries, and uses dry sarcasm to humiliate them and enforce discipline. He tolerates Edge's crude demeanor and abusive behavior because he finds common ground in an obscene enjoyment of violence and the degrading of others. The executive officer is in denial about the hatred for him felt by the entire crew, and when informed by the surgeon of it, has a marked change in behavior for the worse.
Commander Blanchard - Blanchard is a career Navy doctor but has little use for traditional naval discipline. Until Austen befriends him, Blanchard keeps to himself, locking the door to his stateroom and using a pharmaceutical to cleanse his breath in order to drink without being caught. Blanchard takes a not-always-welcomed protective attitude towards Austen in his struggles with the executive officer, having no fear whatsoever of his superiors. Blanchard's attempt, "man to man", to help the executive officer reduce the strain on himself is coldly rejected, and angered, Blanchard inadvertently precipitates the executive officer's breakdown. Rather than taking any other action, however, the doctor locks himself in his room again to comfort himself with a bottle.
Godfrey Clemson - A glib art critic, Clemson parlayed his name and influence into a fortune as owner of the top advertising agency in New York. Portly and unattractive (he is described as pink-faced and not having eyelids), he wields his money and power to obtain whatever he wants, including Stella Greyne. Clemson is supercilious towards artists in general and Austen in particular. Austen characterizes him as a fast-talking salesman who happens to peddle art instead of ladies' dresses or used cars.
Homer Fowler - Fowler, a big steward's mate, has just reported aboard Atlantis as a replacement. From the rural Deep South, he has endured years of racial discrimination and worse, learning to survive by suppressing violent urges to resist. Garrulous, he convinces Austen he is a born gunner and sees in him a protector. Working with the guns becomes the high point of his life.