Chapter 13, "The Best Goddamned Target-Towing Ship" Summary

Willie goes on bridge as junior Officer of the Deck, happy now the Caine is going to sea. Queeg, carrying his instruction book, On a Destroyer's Bridge, joins Willie. The Caine is tied to the Moulton. Muddy shallow water surrounds the Caine, leaving a few hundred yards of dredge channel in which to leave port. The lines are untied. Queeg orders all engines back one third. As the Caine moves, its anchor, decked on the Moulton, rips holes in the other ship, gashes a hole in the bridge, and removes a gun from the deckhouse plus two ammunition boxes and an antenna, all of which fall into the water. Queeg shouts wheel and engine orders that get the Caine stuck in the mud at a ten degree angle. He sends a...