During the trial, Queeg reads a report in which he recommends Maryk for the "regular navy".
I've always puzzled over this. Isn't the USS Caine, and Maryk, and Queeg, for that matter, already part of the "REGULAR NAVY"? Can someone explain what esoteric meaning this term apparently has? And what term would be used to refer to the Caine and its crew (we know they're highly "irregular", but I'm talking in the formal sense). Thanks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_Army_(United_States)
This is an article about the Army. Maybe this applies to the Navy too?
I'm just on my way up to Clavius.
The difference was being in the Regular Navy meant that one would remain in the Navy after the war ended and would it one's career.
Aside from Queeg, the officers of the Caine were all classified -in their personnel records and status- as members of the U.S. Navy Reserve. The postnominals after their names, on official documents would be "USNR". That meant that they'd been reservists prior to the war and gone active or -as was the case with most of them- joined the Navy when the war began. That classification meant that they were not planning to remain in the Navy after the war. When hostilities ended, they would be leave the Navy and return to civilian life.
Queeg, however, was Regular Navy. He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and had been serving as an officer prior to the war and planned to remain in the Navy after the war. The postnominal he had was "USN", which meant he was an officer of the Regular Navy. The Navy was his chosen professional career.
Early in the war, the difference between Regular and Reserve was quite distinct. The Regular officers (and enlisted men) naturally were in a far better state of training and practical experience, having served for years at sea already. Ship's captains almost exclusively, early in the war, were selected from the Regular Navy.
As the war progressed and Reserve officers gained experience under combat conditions (it was said in the book that two years of wartime experience at sea was equal to ten to fifteen years of peacetime experience) they began to move into command positions. In the book, it's said that Maryk -when he becomes Executive Officer in December of 1943- is the first Reserve to become XO. By 1944, older ships like the Caine, and other smaller ships (destroyers, PT boats, minesweepers, even submarines, etc.) were getting captains from the Reserve. Command of the large capital ships (aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, etc.) were still commanded by Regular Navy (i.e. Annapolis graduated) officers.
Maryk wanted to remain in the Navy and make it his career. To do that, he had to apply for transfer to the Regular Navy. That would mean he wouldn't be discharged at war's end. As well, during the war, it could mean that he'd sent to serve on larger vessels to gain more experience, as well as perhaps having a greater chance of commanding a ship. To be granted a transfer to the Regular Navy required an approving recommendation by superiors and an excellent performance record. Prior to the mutiny, Maryk had definitely been on track to be granted his transfer as Queeg -and DeVriess before him- regarded Maryk as easily the best officer on the ship; plus he was an excellent ship handler who got respect from the crew.
Excellent! One of IMDB's most concise but densely informative posts.
shareMuch appreciated. I had read, and accepted, an earlier response as definitive and stopped checking this thread. But on rechecking months later, I came upon your post, TorontoJediMaster, and it couldn't be more informative and clearly explained. Thanks, again.
shareThere was nothing to indicate he had "graduated from the US Naval Academy," which is the elite school for Naval Officers. I highly doubt he would have been assigned to a "bucket" if he had been an academy graduate.
shareQueeg was definitely a graduate from the Academy. I believe you can see he's wearing an Academy ring.
About 99% of officers from the Regular Navy were Annapolis graduates in those days. The only exceptions were the rare officers who'd been commissioned from the enlisted ranks, and they tended to not rise past the rank of lieutenant. (A book I have on the Pacific War, by Ian W. Toll, says that while the Army had high-ranking officers who'd come from schools other than West Point, or had even been commissioned from the ranks; every single high ranking command officer in the U.S. Navy had come through Annapolis.)
In the book, it's explicitly said that he went to Annapolis. When he comes aboard and meets Captain DeVriess, DeVriess asks he was from the class of 1934. Queeg says he was in the class of 1936.
Later Captain Grace (Chief of Staff to ComServPac) tells the Admiral that Queeg isn't terribly bright. Grace was asking around and learned he was quite low in his Academy class standing.
At the court-martial, one of the psychiatrists testifies that Queeg is bothered by his low-class standing and that hazing received at the Academy was a scarring experience for him.
The trouble in the film was that Bogart was 55 years old and was playing a man who was supposed to be around 30. The [Caine was Queeg's first command, and it was implied that it was somewhat beneath an Annapolis graduate to have been assigned to a vessel like that. One gets the impression that the Bureau of Personnel decided that the ship could be how Queeg could be tried out as a captain. If he did well, he could move on to other, more modern vessels.
As it was, soon after Queeg takes command the whole DMS squadron has a major shake-up as most of the Annapolis graduates are transferred off and Reserve officers start to move up to the major positions. (Maryk is the first Reserve Executive Officer on the Caine, after Lieutenant Gorton, an Annapolis graduate, is detached.) So, Queeg had the dubious knowledge that he was an Annapolis man on a type of ship that was starting come under the command of Reserve officers.
All of the replies are accurate... but since I love your question, I was "regular navy" because I volunteered and accepted office as a naval officer (P.S. the fact that they paid for my 4 yrs college could have been a major contributor to this decision (:)).
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