He won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Caine Mutiny in 1951, where he drew on his wartime experiences as an officer on a minesweeper in the Pacific. His most meticulous works were The Winds of War in 1971 and its sequel War and Remembrance some years later, the latter film adaptation being so hard-hitting I had to switch off the television set.


He died in Palm Springs, California aged 103. His wife predeceased him, as did one of his three children.