History Literature / TheCaineMutiny

* The death of Willie Keith's father as he begins his service is based on Wouk's own father, who died while Wouk was in training for the Navy.

* PreWarCivilianCareer: Before the war, Keefer was a fisherman, which is contrasted with career officer Queeg, who was on duty before the war and served in the grueling Battle of the Atlantic. Greenwald was a lawyer who joined as a fighter pilot, but was grounded due to injuries and changed trade to legal officer.

->''"It was not a mutiny in the old-time sense, of course, with flashing of cutlasses, a captain in chains, and desperate sailors turning outlaws. After all, it happened in 1944 in the United States Navy. But the court on inquiry recommended trial for mutiny, and the episode became known as "the ''Caine'' mutiny" throughout the service."''

* ArtisticLicenseShips: Averted in the adaptations, which replaced the novel's ''Wickes''-class four-piper destroyer-minesweeper conversion (all of the real ''Wickes''- and visually-identical ''Clemson''- and ''Caldwell''-class destroyers were scrapped immediately after the war, with the only exceptions being two hulks so stripped and rusted that they're unrecognizable that remain even today in San Francisco Bay) with a ''Gleaves''-class conversion.

The 1951 UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize winner for Literature, ''The Caine Mutiny'' was written by Herman Wouk. A [[TheFilmOfTheBook film version of the novel]], also titled ''The Caine Mutiny'', was released in 1954, was produced by Creator/StanleyKramer and directed by Creator/EdwardDmytryk, and stars Creator/HumphreyBogart, Creator/JoseFerrer, Creator/FredMacMurray, and Van Johnson.

* AccuseTheWitness: The meat of Greenwald's strategy during the court-martial is to unrelentingly cross-examines Queeg this way, eventually calling him as a hostile witness for the defense and accusing him of several illegal and unethical acts in order to portray him as incompetent and unfit for command. The prosecutor eventually realizes that Greenwald has turned the whole thing into a trial where the defense is prosecuting a witness. (And it ''works''.)

The 1951 UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize winner for Literature, ''The Caine Mutiny'' was written by Herman Wouk. A [[TheFilmOfTheBook film version of the novel]], also titled ''The Caine Mutiny'', was released in , was produced by Creator/StanleyKramer and directed by Creator/EdwardDmytryk, and stars Creator/HumphreyBogart, Creator/JoseFerrer, Creator/FredMacMurray, and Van Johnson.

The next part of the book deals with Maryk's trial. His defender, Lt. Barney Greenwald, chooses to focus more on Queeg's actions than on Maryk's, eventually causing Queeg to break down on the stand. Maryk is acquitted (and Keith is never charged), but his and Queeg's naval careers are effectively over. However, at a party after the trial, an intoxicated Greenwald [[HiddenDisdainReveal turns on Keefer]]: He reveals his shame at having to break down Queeg on the stand, reflecting that Queeg's and the regulars' careers in America's peacetime Navy in the Atlantic had done more than the commissioned officers had ever done, and that the crew, particularly Keefer, had spurred the situation by disrespecting and mistreating Queeg, whose service in the Atlantic had left him in a [[ShellShockedVeteran fragile state of mind]] and should have been helped rather than publicly humiliated by being stripped of command of his own ship. He then goes on to accuse Keefer of being the true force behind the mutiny rather than Maryk, and throws a glass of champagne, the "yellow wine," in Keefer's face, shaming him and symbolically calling him a coward.