U.S. distributors Kino Lorber have confirmed that they are planning to release on Blu-ray Robert Wise's Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), starring Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden, Brad Dexter, Don Rickles, and Nick Cravat. The release is scheduled to arrive on the U.S. market on September 23rd.
The 'sub-plot' of Kirk taking over from Decker derives from this little number.
Edit: The name 'Decker' kind of resolves to 'deck hand,' so as to underscore the demotion of the XO in each film to No.2 position. Ilia, at one point, belabors pronouncing his name in syllables as "Dec-ker." Interesting how the moment Richardson intuits the meaning of the bogus morse radio transmission is transferred to Decker in ST:TMP when 'he' saves the ship from disaster at the hands of el-capitaine, not to mention the heavy references to "radio" towards the end of the film. The ideas just keep bubbling over.