Hit the Deck is a musical theater prouction first staged at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway on April 25, 1927. It has music by Vincent Youmans, lyrics by Clifford Grey and Leo Robin and book by Herbert Fields. It is based on the play Shore Leave by Hubert Osborne. It ran for 352 performances. The title refers to a nautical slang term that means to prepare for action (general) or to drop to a prone position on the ground (as a defensive response to hostile fire).