The Deep Six

by Martin Dibner

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.

Genres: Fiction

281 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Martin Dibner, a native of Brooklyn, attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor's degree in banking and finance. He briefly worked as a commercial artist in New York City and Miami before serving in the Navy as a gunnery officer during World War II. After the war, he did graduate work in painting and sculpture at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

For his best-known novel, "The Deep Six" (1953), set on a ship patrolling the Aleutian Islands during World War II, Mr. Dibner drew on his wartime experience. His eight other novels included "Showcase" (1958), "The Admiral" (1967) and "Ransom Run" (1977). He also wrote the text for "Seacoast Maine" (1973), a book of photographs by George Tice, and "Portrait of Paris Hill" (1990), about a village in Maine.

Mr. Dibner was the first director of the Joan Whitney Payson Gallery at Westbrook College in Portland, Me., from 1975 to 1978, and the first director of the California Arts Commission.

Reviews

[Mark Peebler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written, and full of very good naval details from the World War II period of the United States Navy. During World War II, Dibner served aboard a similar ship. Despite the book cover (and I believe movie) showing a destroyer, the naval action takes place aboard a fictional heavy cruiser, probably Pensacola Class. The problem for me arises with the main story line and love interest. They plod along through the whole dark book. You are expecting the characters to do something, but alas, they don't. The book just kind of fades away without a real ending. The reader is left feeling like the story was just chopped off in the middle. Harms Way, by James Bassett(1962), is a much superior novel about the same time period.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The naval engagement that is the book’s climax is loosely based on the Battle of the Kormandorskis, which involved a running battle between a Japanese task force aiming to resupply the Japanese garrisons in the Aleutians and a smaller American force. The novel is about more than that, especially interpersonal battles in the cruiser that was flag ship for the Americans (for in real life the admiral involved never left the cruiser). The main character is a young artist serving as a ninety-day wonder officer.

[Stefan Vucak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although an interesting glimpse into WW II naval life, this book does not grip the reader.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sory about the men of the submarine service and their families. It covers all the human emotions.

[Catherine Lienhard]

Life on a battleship up in Alaskan waters. Quite brutal and realistic. ('The Deep Six' means burial at sea!)

(read 6/25/67)