Cameron's Commitment

For almost a third of this WW II naval adventure, the crew of the British light cruiser Castile are in the dark as to the ship's mission. Lt.-Commander Donald Cameron, heading a smaller-than-usual crew, takes the Castile from Portsmouth on England's South coast to a sea basin off Northern Scotland for a hurried, hush-hush refitting, and then takes on board a contingent of Royal Marines. Eventually we learn that the Castile is to be scuttled on the defense-works of Nazi-occupied Dieppe and that the Marines plan to rescue the British leader of a Resistance group. Along the way, as usual ( Cameron's Troop Lift ), McCutchan delves into the inner lives of the men under the stalwart, if phlegmatic, Cameron. We meet chief petty officer ``Bull----'' Shine, yeoman Robbins and ordinary seaman MacTavish, the last a ``bad 'un'' who redeems himself under fire. Presenting a wide-angled view of home-front hardships and personal problems, McCutchan delivers a good, gritty look at the dynamics of wartime existence. (Mar.)