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Norton
224
Re
PP- Ulus. $7.95.
viewed by Commander J. Michael dodgers, U. S. Navy
«Commander Rodgers served as commanding freer of the USS Henry B. Wilson , G-7) during that ship’s participation in
JfV °f ‘be SS Mayaguez and the rescue ^ e crew. Commander Rodgers’prior sea duty conwiand of the USS Bauer
(Pc23) and the USS Rexburg ER-855), weapons officer in the USS
(DD-861), chief engineer in the Semmes (DDG-18), and on the staff of l^Tander u- S. Sixth Fleet. He is a j !*ate °f ‘he Destroyer School, the Defense /{jr '&ence School, and the U. S. Air Force ‘he S°mmand and Staff College. He entered 1% ai^ V'“ ®fflcer Candidate School in
Coll SU^se<luent 10 graduation from Bowdoin j ejje' ^e is presently assigned to the Naval 'gence Support Center in Washington, D. C.)
Th
e ss Mayaguez is an American flag ^ ainership which was seized on the >n l S£aS ky Cambodian Navy gunboats ^ \ e Gulf of Siam during the diplo- confused period following the ev ^on ^ol government: and the acuation of all U. S. citizens from
Th,
affa:
Thc Four Days of Mayaguez
R°y Rowan. New York, N.Y.: & Company, Inc., 1975.
SaiRbodia
decisions concerning the recovery operation.
The book is episodic in format with chapters grouped into major subheadings corresponding to the "four days” of the title—Monday, May 12th through Thursday, May 15th (Gulf of Siam time). The author constructs the 19 chapters so that each addresses events by location and participants. One chapter describes the Mayaguez crew’s situation, the next the activities of the U. S. naval forces being marshalled to effect the rescue, and another the decision-making process going on at the highest levels of the U. S. government. This format results in a series of "meanwhile back at the White House ...” fade-ins and fade-outs which make the book easily adaptable for some future television production.
In view of the extensive number of taped interviews conducted by the author, the text consists, to a great extent, of the various participants’ accounts of the "four days.” This also adds to the television journalism flavor of this book. With over 50 "players” in the book, the author was able to select from a wide range of characters and develop some of the more interesting personalities. This he does particularly well with the master of the Mayaguez, Captain Charles T. Miller. As the protagonist in the book he is portrayed as firmly retaining command of his heterogeneous crew while in captivity (which does not have the same sanction of law and custom in the merchant marine as it does in the armed forces), and cunningly seizing on the means of its deliverance. The book describes how Captain Miller soon became aware that the Cambodians had been surprised and frightened by the swift reaction of the U. S. Armed Forces to the seizure of the Mayaguez. He then intimated to his captors that if the crew should be returned to its ship, he could contact the appropriate authorities who could call off the attacks. The local Cambodian commander lost no time in consulting with his superiors in Phnom Penh, and the crew was released early the following morning.
complete story of the "Mayaguez tel encompasses two separate but
recote °Perations. First, the capture and
theVe^ sb'P an^ tbe rescue of
sec members of her crew, and, (j g a y> tbe insertion and extraction of th ^aianes on K°h Tang in support of y? recovery operation. The Four Days tUreaya8uez addresses in detail the cap- recovery, and rescue operation. for ^0Wan> Far Eastern bureau chief 0r> ma§az'ne> sailed for several days e*te °ar<^ r^C Mayaguez and conducted crew*1 T1VC *nterv*ews w‘th the master and irtte n a^^R*°n, he conducted personal partrV‘ews with many of the other presjjTants and most notably with dearent Ford who, as the book makes ’ Personally made all the major
The most interesting aspect of The Four Days of Mayaguez to the profes-
d
sional naval officer is the description of interplay among the political, diplomatic, and military considerations of the affair. The confluence of these forces was in the oval office of the White House. Mr. Rowan’s interview with President Ford provides the reader with an unusual inside view of how and why the Commander-in-Chief made the decisions which resulted in the successful outcome of the operation. Politically, many Americans remembered the disastrous Pueblo incident in which too little force was used too late, and the ultimate humiliation of the United States was magnified by the indignities suffered by the ship’s crew. Militarily, the debate within the National Security Council concerning how much and what kind of force should be used is described in detail. Interestingly, Vice President Rockefeller, Secretary of State Kissinger, and the President’s deputy assistant for National Security Affairs, Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, are reported as favoring B-52 strikes, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General George Brown, his deputy, General D. C. Jones, and Secretary of Defense Schlesinger opposed to the use of B-52S. The President is reported to have elected not to use the B-52 option because of the rapid approach of the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) to the objective area. In fact, Rowan reports that "Kissinger maintains that once the Coral Sea was known to be within striking distance, the decision against the B-52S became unanimous.” At one point the President is quoted as saying:
"The aircraft that kept the Mayaguez from being towed or moved into shore were not from an aircraft carrier. They were U. S. Air Force aircraft. But I could visualize the Coral Sea, with her flexibility, being a big asset. I must say I was glad we had an aircraft carrier that was around and could be used. It sort of helped to justify the need for aircraft carriers.”
On the diplomatic side, the President is described as fully cognizant of the effect his decisions would have on world opinion and U. S. appearances abroad. Rowan writes of the President’s thinking:
"In his mind, the ship at this moment lost somewhere out there in the darkness of night in the Gulf of Thailand, had become a symbol. The fate of the Mayaguez could become entangled in questions confronting U. S. foreign policy in Asia, or for that matter, all over the world.”
"More than the crew of the Mayaguez was at stake. There was need, particularly after the [American] evacuations of Phnom Penh and Saigon, to dispel doubts about U. S. will and its capacity to respond to provocation.”
The President repeatedly is: described as favoring the use of adequate military force to effect the release of the ship and her crew and to demonstrate to the world that the United States would not be pushed around. On this subject the President is quoted as saying: ", . . To do something was at least an expression of effort, so I felt it would be far better to take strong action even though the odds might be against us.”
The book continues on to describe the strong action which was taken by our armed forces and provides convincing evidence that it was this rapid' overwhelming response, which caused the revolutionary Cambodian government to hastily release the ship and crew. I can report that once we were given our mission and the rules of engagement, we were left alone to do our job as we saw fit with no further "rudder orders” from higher authority' Based on the author’s description of those events which I personally observed, the book accurately portrays the sequence of events during those momentous four days in May 1975. There is, however, a tendency to attribute to various persons thoughts which were not necessarily going through therf minds at the time described. This en- chances the development of interesting characters but tends to detract from the otherwise factual reporting.
Thirty photographs are grouped m the center of the book, and most of them are here published for the first time- There are two maps of the area of action in the front of the book. There should be one more, however, to provide better overview of the forces on atl around Koh Tang.
The book was written and assemble rapidly in order to meet the deadline demands of a topical book market. Th>5 shows in places. However, it effectively tells the story of what happened to the crew of the Mayaguez, how they were captured and returned, and dispels some of the clouds of misinformation whieb surrounded much of the original ne^5 media reporting. The book provides an inside view of the decision-making
process at the highest levels of govern ment as the events were taking p^cC thousands of miles away which were conditioning those decisions. It demon strates that adequate force, rap'd!) applied, resulted in a swift success! resolution of the affair. The book wou make a worthwhile addition to the professional library alongside books on the Pueblo affair as a contrasting examp1
djj e> be did not suffer fools gladly—he Uricjnot Suffer them at all—but he also •nis C?t0od that even the best make his * CS; ad fbat he demanded was that tw; rnen not make the same mistake lce- Few did.
0 how to handle similar incidents. The overall theme might well be contained ‘n Frederick the Great’s statement: 'plomacy without arms is music w>thout instruments.”
Cunningham the Commander
C Pack. London: Batsford Books, 974- 323 pp. Ulus. £6.50.
Reviewed by Commander Joseph a mer, Royal Navy (Retired)
(Commander Palmer served in the Royal ^ from 1926 until 1962. His World War experience included five years at sea in the Arctic, and North Sea, during Alrf heri°d he commanded HM destroyers enham, Eglinton, and Zambesi. He is Gently editor of Navy International.)
da^°r^ ^ar ^ *S already history. To- te^ 11 exc*tes no amazement to encoun- er a flag officer with breast of monkey- So Ct *nnocent °P 'ts campaign medals. s° also in these last 30 years have the everal reputations of those then in high naand become adjusted: some, al- din^ remaining so; others in dee> a few—a very select few—honored - kut, as their true attainments are ne ^ aPPreciated, showing their worthi- s t0 be numbered among the great
captains.
Unn’ngham the Commander is the ti iiSt0r^ a great captain. It is essen- a F a portrait of a man, rather than
and*^ k*s tactacs or his campaigns, ^ as such it must be read and judged, as^ ®rowne Cunningham—"ABC”
far k Was known in the Royal Navy and m ,c'0nd 'c—was’ indeed, the com- th 1 Cr ^ar exce^mce 1 not merely from sin °n^ Fears as such (almost unbroken in T assrgnment to Torpedo Boat 14
n . 08)> but because of his determi- rriast'H %hting spirit. He had a bala Cry k’s profession which was
*leart<K^ a warm and compassionate
in , big enough to take in an enemy offi 6 Cat as we^ as bis own beloved by ^Crs and rnen; his sternness matched Tr,JUlck’ friendly, and fun-loving wit.
The author quotes widely from the contemporary utterances and subsequent opinions of those who encountered ABC during his long life, but especially during his two periods as Commander-in-Chief, in the Mediterranean. This proves highly effective; the frank and pithy sayings and comments— for seamen as a race go straight to the point—are skillfully woven into the fabric of the story to convince the reader that here is the real man. "The Fleet would have gone through hell for him,” says his Staff Officer (Operations), adding wryly: "And we frequently did!” "My Goodness,” remarked ABC to his Director of Plans when the latter came to say goodbye to him, "you have taken some knocks!” "Yes, Sir,” the director replied, "but I have always known exactly where I stood.” That both these hard-driven officers (Sir Wilfrid Woods and Sir Guy Grantham) later became full admirals suggests that they came to no lasting harm.
It might be thought that this work, written by a British naval officer (Pack was ABC’s staff meteorological officer) about a British naval officer would have small interest outside the British sea- service. The reviewer believes that, in this case, the opposite is true: first, ABC was a major Allied commander; second, his time in Washington (and, especially, his dealings with the formidable Ernie
King) cannot but be of interest to Americans.
King and Cunningham did not see eye to eye. Nevertheless, for all their differences, each striving passionately for what he believed to be the most effective way of winning the war, King—himself a great man and one to whom we today accord insufficient honor—recognized the greatness in Cunningham, likening him to Lord St Vincent. But perhaps General Dwight D. Eisenhower came nearer the mark when, after their very first meeting, he wrote: "He was the Nelsonian type . . . believing that ships went to sea to find and destroy the enemy.”
With regard to this wide (and justified) use of quotations, the reviewer would only enter one small complaint: why make the reader who wants to know who said what turn to a long list right at the end of the text? Could not the authority be given as a footnote? Never mind; this is but a small, though repeatedly irritating, note to trouble the reader’s thumb. Cunningham the Commander is recommended reading on both sides of the Western Ocean; not only because it is a well written and authentic portrait of a great fighting seaman, but also to serve as a reminder—and one is surely needed today—that wars are waged by men. And here, above all, was a man.
General Eisenhower, pictured with Admiral Cunningham in October 1943, once said that "ABC” was the "Nelsonian type.” Cunningham was a Commander.
IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
hh
Pepper, Rice, and Elephants
A SOUTHEAST ASIAN JOURNEY FROM CELEBES TO SIAM
by Ruth Masters Rickover
This is an entertaining, illustrated account of the travels of the H. G. Rick- overs through Southeast Asia on the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor. A keen observer of everything around her, the late Mrs. Rickover tells how she and her husband witnessed, without suspecting it, the end of an era that has since been swept away in the turbulence of war and conquest. In accord with their wishes to sample “the great variety of patterns of living fashioned by mankind,” the Rick- overs spumed the assistance of tourist offices and are found in these pages traveling on elephant back and collecting data on colonial and precolonial history.
1975. 352 pages. Illustrated. Index.
List price: $14.00.
Member’s price: $11.20
The German Naval Officer Corps, 1890-1918: A Social and Political History
Holger H. Herwig. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1973. 298 pp. Illus. $9.00 (approximately).
Reviewed by Vice Admiral Friedrich Ruge, Federal German Navy (Retired)
(Now retired, Admiral Ruge was first commissioned an officer in the German Navy in 1916. He served in cruisers, battleships, and destroyers and rose to command the Western Defenses from 1941 to 1943. A naval adviser on Rommel’s staff until the Normandy invasion, he served as Chief of Naval Construction from that time until the end of the war. From 1956 until 1961, he was Chief of Naval Operations of the Federal German Navy. He is the author of numerous books, including Scapa Flow 1919 which is now available through the Naval Institute.)
The author’s objective is to describe the social position and activities of the German naval executive officers in the reign of William II from a sociological point of view. Holger H. Herwig begins with a short summary of the creation of the German Navy, without examining, however, the geographical, political, and military factors which determined the country’s actual needs. He then deals with the Emperor’s special relations with the executive officers, their selection and training, and with the inferior status of engineer and warrant officers in this quickly growing navy, pursuing these problems through the end of World War I. Herwig demonstrates little interest in actual operations, since he considers the executive officer corps as mainly a political body, a thesis which he promotes by diligently recording everything that supports it. The last third of the book deals with various aspects of the situation in 1917 and 1918 including mutiny, revolution, and the end of the fleet.
The sources used for The German Naval Officer Corps are the German archives as well as a great number of memoirs and books. Herwig attempts to be fair in his criticism, but he often falls short. There is a tendency to put theories before facts. For example, in Herwig’s opinion, the selection process was too narrowly restricted, reserved for the higher classes; the education was insufficient; and costs were too high- According to present-day standards, hxs first assumption is partly valid, but comparisons should be made with the other major navies of that time. Governments generally demand that their officers are reliable and efficient. Herwig discusses all the pros and cons of the education process of the older admirals but stresses the negative aspects. However, the upshot was that in the last years before the war most cadets entered with the abitur, the best high school certificate available. He quotes the costs in detail, but does not compare them with those for the university, which actually were somewhat higher. At the end of a long annotation—uncommented on—we find that the costs of naval cadet training in Great Britain were almost three times as high as m Germany.
The chief error of the executive officef corps was that it did not adapt itself to the greatly changed psychological conditions in a prolonged war. Problems like food, promotion, entertainment, re' placement of young officers, etc., were taken up much too late or sadly neglected. But the lack of leadership from the top, the bad organization 0 the Empire as well as of the Navy, an the general conditions under the block ade were virtually ignored by Herwig- He makes no attempt to evaluate the various personalities (unlike H. H. Fros1 in his Battle of Jutland), and his distinct lack of knowledge in naval matters lea to mixing up types of warships and po°f translating, such as Steuermann (naVJ, gation warrant officer) as "helmsman- and Schiffsjunge (young petty officer ^ pirant) as "cabin boy.” (On page ^
I am misquoted. It was a warrant officet who was invited into our mess on
birthday. The engineer officer was member all the time.)
The questions of nobility, difference5 of religion, duels, etc., were of far leS* importance than Herwig assumes, al1 the style of the Prussian guard office11* was not at all aped, but smiled at (°f made fun of).
The German Naval Officer Corps co1^ tains a great deal of information atl interesting details, but when this data becomes overrated, as it often does, ffi picture is out of focus. The Germ4*1, naval executive officer corps was part a much larger system, which in some Aspects still was semi-feudal, but in others was efficient and modern. (The social security system was the best in 1 f w°tld.) It can best be judged in mis social context.
The Shark: Splendid Savage °fthe Sea
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe t-ousteau. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Company, Inc., 1970. 240 pp. Illus. ” $9.95 ($8.15)
Shark Attack
Pav'd Baldridge. New York: Berkley edallion Books, 1975. 263 pp. Illus. ®125 (paper).
Sharks, The Silent Savages
g 60 Brown. Boston, Mass.: Little ,q°Wn and Co. (Sports Illustrated Book), 5- 150 pp. IUus. $7.95.
R ■
Viewed by Lieutenant Colonel 0face S. Mazet, U. S. Marine Corps Reserve (Retired)
\tj1*U,lenant Colonel Mazet retired from
■ S. Marine Corps Reserve in 1963 after sh ^Serv'ce' Author of three books on udtb ’ ^'S ^°®kark! Shark!, written beco R Young, in 1933, has
ote a classic on the subject. Lieutenant
ane Mazet has written feature articles °0^ reviews for the Proceedings since
detn V^CW tlle research under way to sh efm'ne best methods of discouraging ••g,r attack in the sea, as outlined in Seaaf*s: Navy Countermeasure Re- prrc it* the October 1975 issue of ThCee^*n£s’ h is well to know the enemy. ,j e three books reviewed here are well sh !?ne^ t0 S‘ve the known facts about
s, shark attacks, and one man’s search f u
.. ror the countermeasures. is ^ Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea sh ,rtlaPs the most attractive book on <j0^ S CVer Published. It takes the reader bru mt° C^e ^a‘r °b the undersea t0.fTS anh gives him an almost hand- oUsaccluaintance with these mysteri- ties' menactng fish regarded for centu- tiget.as tbe scourge of mariners. These uhh S C^e SCa’ rov'ng> relentless, and of a 6 Stable, strike fear into the hearts As w^i?ne venturing into their sphere. Mi,,-6 theY might. No one yet knows
a shark will do.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his son Philippe, well-known oceanographers and divers, have produced a book contributing significantly to studies and conclusions of sharks in their native element. Based on first-hand experiences where sharks abound, they recorded reactions of sharks at close range and returned with evidence that holds the reader engrossed. The sharks’ strength, invulnerability, and ferocity were demonstrated to the divers time after time, resulting in judgments which it is well for other divers and swimmers to heed.
While the underwater experiments and investigations of species in this book were limited to the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean, with a few observations from the Mediterranean, the authors’ conclusions may well be applied to warm water sharks around the world. Cousteau and his son studied sharks’ eating, hunting, and attack habits in detail, contributing greatly toward scientific knowledge of these little- known fish. From three-foot specimens to the gigantic Whale shark of 60-70 feet, various species were observed, resulting in a book both fascinating and beautiful which should be on the shelf of any student of the sea and its denizens.
Despite the elder Cousteau’s remark that sharks have been deprived of their invincibility by cetaceans which can
"defeat” them—the Killer whale for example—they still rule their undersea domain as the best marine killer ever devised by nature in dentition, protection, speed, numbers, and savage ruthlessness. Fortunately, however, they attack man very seldom.
Shark Attack is a clear, dispassionate study of some 200 authenticated cases of shark attack, worldwide. It is scientific, comprehensive, and graphic, with details of the actual attacks, descriptions of the wounds, and the final results to the victim. These data are carefully tabulated and presented with an eye toward providing the reader with available facts from a computer analysis of 1,650 reported shark attack cases, of which over 200 accounts are presented here in detail.
H. David Baldridge, a scientist working with the U. S. Navy, describes 52
cases of shark attack in California waters, by far the majority ascribed to the great White shark. Of these attacks, only seven were fatal. By contrast, Florida’s record is higher, with more than 100 attacks authenticated, possibly due to warmer seas and the prevalence of bathers the year around, plus the presence of large sharks which prefer a warmer environment. New Guinea, where one would have to search to find a bathing tourist in the sea, claims 53 shark attacks. Another warm water locale where 32 such attacks have been authenticated is Hawaii. One of these victims was a friend of this reviewer; she recovered.
Baldridge specifically addresses the shark threat vis-a-vis scuba divers. There are only 21 authenticated cases recorded of shark attacks on scuba divers, and while the incidence appears to be growing, it is doubtless because of the increase in scuba diving. However, of these onslaughts, almost all were nonfatal, perhaps attributable to the divers being able to see and take defensive measures below the surface. Recorded depths at which divers have been attacked range from eight feet to 90 feet.
The most prevalent area for attacks is still Australia, despite shark nets for protection of swimmers near large cities. Yet of 1,650 worldwide attacks, only 35.5% were fatal. A few of the non-fatal bites were from sharks two to three feet in length, hence Baldridge strongly suggests that swimmers consider all sharks as potential attackers and never aggravate or threaten them in their element. Also, he gives advice for avoiding attack and discouraging sharks when they appear to be too inquisitive.
Finally there are excellent tabular results on attacks, such as by species, by geographical location, nature of wounds, and even body locations of injuries in Shark Attack. This is the definitive book at present on sharks and shark attack, and an absolutely splendid reference for any maritime library.
Sharks, The Silent Savages is written by a man who has dedicated his life to shark research, attempting to discover an effective means of repelling savage sharks through underwater sonic effects. Brown embarked on his odyssey upon witnessing the death of a young friend from shark attack. This book tells of the struggles and experiments undergone in the pursuit of his goal in the seas near Australia, New Guinea, Tahiti, and Rangiroa in the Tuamotus.
In waters replete with sharks, Brown has succeeded in driving them into murderous frenzy with his sonic, electrified equipment, and can generate a cannibalistic orgy with no trouble. His aim is to discover the reverse.
The pages of Shark, The Silent Savage
Y-75
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are crowded with frustrations, both above and below the surface, with sharks and close calls, with warm-hearted natives and fishermen, and with a thorough disenchantment for the lack of cooperation from the Australian political machines. Brown’s best allies were the Japanese manufacturers of his underwater transducers and electrical equipment, and it is to his credit that progress has been made in this new field which could lead to a possible foolproof system of shark discouragement-making all beaches and shores safe for swimmers. Far at sea, however, there seems to be little chance at present of such a panacea against attack on victims of shipwreck or downed aircraft- Scientific research may yet accomplish the desired repellent so long sought in chemistry, but apparently sonic involvement offers the best chances for success. Such transmission has worked thus fer with three species of sharks on the Great Barrier Reef; perhaps it will be used soon and effectively against many other species which are known man-eaters, V so, then Brown will have a tale to tell indeed, for his pioneer work has promise for the years to come in shark research- Each of these books is different in scope and purpose, however each makes a valuable contribution in advancing knowledge of the shark. The choice >s the reader’s.
hu
du
th Ut ^£a’ ^ Admiral of the Fleet of e oviet Union Sergei G. Gorshkov. It
consis- - 6
oauvini
ism to distort the presentation
'xteen books have been chosen for this annual survey. Their subjects range rom galley warfare to the nuclear navy. 0 quota system, topical or chronolog- ■cal, was imposed on their selection.
acb book was judged on its merits a °ne. Not all of them, it should be n°ted, appeared in 1975; some received too late for last year’s survey are included.
Most ambitious in its theme and scope is Professor Clark G. Reynolds’ ommand of the Sea: The History and t>ategy 0f Maritime Empires. In this study, Reynolds undertakes ' 'to discover e strategic alternatives and constants governing navies and empires throughout the continuum of history by raising ypotheses to be tested by historical
examination.” He does not quite succeed mu - 1
. ■ i he occasional factual error is
inevitable m a work of such dimensions, to 6 ^r°^em's rhat Reynolds attempts record and assess the experience of Jery sea power, ancient and modern, in rhan history. After a brilliant infraction, the promised analysis is over- e med by an avalanche of events t0Se relevance the reader is often left i° ln^er- Nevertheless, this is a chal- nging book. Transcending the powder- °*e preoccupation of much naval story, Reynolds considers the influ- °f sea power on the cultural and cltlcal no less than the military and Su°bno-c institutions of the state, a )ect on which no one has said much slnce Mahan and Corbett. And his 3 or themes, at least, are clear. Their f sage is summarized by the quotation 0rh Thucydides in the preface: "Sea °^er Is indeed a great thing.” abo°k similar to Reynolds’ in its ent reC*at*°n SCa Power’ though differ- ln -^ts °f the 11 articles of the "Navies ar an<i Peace” series published in in i °V’et naval journal Morskoi Sbomik tar' ^ an<^ translated, with commen- p^eS by U- S. Navy admirals, in the a t)j during 1973-1974. Ostensibly sea St°r^ °b imperiai Russian and Soviet *°uJ7er> as history it is what one i^enexpect, only worse. The requireS Marxist-Leninist ideology com- cha,. "itb good, old-fashioned Russian
of almost every issue and event. But this is basically beside the point. The value of the book lies in the insight it provides into the thinking of the father of the modern Soviet fleet. If Admiral Gorshkov’s history is fable, like all fables it makes a point. That point, made in a more scholarly manner by Mahan, is the prerequisite of sea power to great power status.
The earliest notable naval book in terms of subject matter offers a reminder that the problem of adapting tactics to new hardware is not unique to the 20th century. In Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century, John Francis Guilmartin, Jr., Associate Professor of History at the U. S. Air Force Academy, assesses the impact of improvements in ordnance on the war galleys which had dominated the Mediterranean since the dawn of history. In writing of this period, Englishspeaking naval historians have traditionally focused their attention on the North Atlantic, where England was beginning her rise to maritime preeminence. Dr. Guilmartin breaks a good deal of new ground with detailed descriptions of six great galley actions interspersed with topical sections analyzing the technological change they reflect. The subject may sound arcane, but his treatment of it, supported by research in Spanish and Venetian naval archives, is absorbing.
While an age was coming to an end in the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic another was beginning. The dean of American historians, Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, U. S. Naval Reserve (Retired), completes his monumental history of The European Discovery of America with The Southern Voyages: 1492-1616. The Northern Voyages, published in 1971, described the expeditions to the northern United States and Canada through 1600. The present volume covers voyages to the southern United States, the Caribbean, and South America. Although a number of lesser-known navigators are recognized, it deals primarily with Columbus, Magellan, and Drake, whose routes Admiral Morison personally retraced by sea and air. Their stories are told with the easy erudition, down-to-earth style, and sense of involvement which have
Notable Naval Books of 1975
By Professor Jack Sweetman, Associate Editor
made Admiral Morison twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Three notable naval books deal with neglected areas of American naval history. Each is the product of extensive primary research. Swamp Sailors: Riverine Warfare in the Everglades, 1835-1842, by Commander George E. Bukor, U. S. Navy (Retired), Assistant Professor of History at the University of Florida, provides the first full account of Navy and Marine operations in the Second Seminole War. For some reason this conflict, the longest Indian war fought east of the Mississippi, has never attracted much historical attention. Why this should be so is puzzling, for the war was certainly not devoid of drama, beginning with a massacre exceeded only by Custer’s Last Stand. To date there have been only two general histories: the classic Origin, Progress and Conclusion of the Florida War (1848) by Army Captain John L. Sprague, who served in its closing stages, and Professor John K. Mahon’s History of the Second Seminole War (1967), both of which deal primarily with its military aspects. It is, however, the only Indian war in which naval forces played an appreciable part, conducting riverine operations along the peninsula and pushing into the uncharted wilderness of the Everglades in operations strikingly similar to those of the "brown-water” Navy in Vietnam.
Professor Kenneth J. Hagan’s American Gunboat Diplomacy and the Old Navy, 1877-1889 examines the practice of American naval diplomacy, and the thinking behind it, in the decade before
Mahan began to popularize the concept of sea power. Hagan demonstrates that, contrary to the conventional interpretation of the era, the idea that national greatness is dependent upon commercial vigor, which is in turn dependent upon a prosperous mercantile marine protected by a powerful Navy, was current among the Old Navy’s officers years before Mahan set pen to paper. Hagan also takes implicit issue with the conclusion of Peter Karsten’s The Naval Aristocracy: The Golden Age of Annapolis and the Emergence of Modem American Navalism that the officers were motivated principally by "career anxiety,” campaigning for a bigger Navy not so much because they believed it was in the national interest as because it would increase their prospects of promotion. He argues convincingly that the officers were sincere: "Myopic they might have been; deceitful they were not.”
A member of the largely forgotten generation of officers which reached flag rank during or shortly after World War I and retirement before World War II is recalled by Professor Gerald E. Wheeler in Admiral William Veazie Pratt, U. S. Navy: A SailoPs Life. A first-class seaman and outstanding leader, Pratt moved up the ladder from the Annapolis Class of 1889 to end his career as Chief of Naval Operations in the difficult Depression years of 1930-1933. His 47 years’ active duty spanned a crucial period in the evolution of the modern American Navy, into which this well-written biography provides many insights.
The continuing interest in World War II is annually evinced by the number and quality of the books devoted to it. Ludovic Kennedy describes one of its great dramas, the first and fatal sortie of the German battleship Bismarck, in Pursuit. The sinking of the Bismarck is an oft-told tale; but Kennedy’s resourceful research and spellbinding narrative sustain the suspense. As the book approaches its climax, one almost begins to feel that this time there is a chance the Bismarck will make it. The author was a sub-lieutenant on board one of the ships which saw that she did not.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s use of U. S. naval forces in his pre-war Pacific diplomacy is subjected to a scathing indictment in On the Treadmill to Pearl Harbor, the memoirs of the late Admiral J. O. Richardson, as told to his former flag lieutenant and friend, Vice Admiral George C. Dyer, U. S. Navy (Retired). Appointed Commander-inChief, United States Fleet, in January 1940, Admiral Richardson vigorously opposed the President’s decision to base the fleet at Hawaii upon the conclusion
of Fleet Problem XXI in May 1940- Roosevelt was certain, and so informed Richardson, that by its presence there the fleet was exerting a deterrent effect on Japan. Richardson was equally certain, and so informed Roosevelt, that a fleet as unprepared for war as his would not deter Japan, and that positioning it in mid-Pacific impeded his efforts to prepare it. The impasse 'vaS resolved by Richardson’s relief 10 January 1941. The differences between the two men offer a negative object lesson in civil-military relations. Richardson s insistence on reminding his superiors of his fleet’s deficiencies, particularly in regard to personnel and support vessels, convinced Roosevelt and Secretary ot the Navy Knox that he lacked "warmindedness.” Roosevelt’s response t0 the Japanese threat led Richardson t° the unhappy conclusion that the President was going to bumble into a war f°f which the United States was unread) —which, in Richardson’s opinion, ^ exactly what came to pass. The overal impact of the work is unfortunatel) diminished by its somewhat tedious style. In his seventies when he agreed let Admiral Dyer record his story.
Pacific
war, however, these memoirs are
many. This is an exceptional first
closedanCe'S decision to continue to aipan was based, in part, on the
book.
jchardson relied too much on quota- t'°ns from official records and reports, lch might better have been summarized or collected in appendices. For - c^ose interested in the origins of the
a must.
jeaj*°Sraphies of naval and military the CrS ^3Ve 3 Wa^ ^os'n£ the man in Th maZC ^’s camPa*gns- Commander omas Buell, U. S. Navy, avoids that ^ all ;n The Quiet Warrior, the first
^ sca'e biography of Admiral Ray
mond Ac. . ;
SQnA- opruance. A very private per- sl ’ retlcent and reserved, Spruance unned the sort of "color” which made
skilT*ra^ ^a^scy sucfr gooci copy- The tvith which Buell evokes his elusive ^tsonality makes this the best World car . naval biography to date. It also ains important new material on ,(cruance s role in the Pacific war. The tjiCOUnt °f the battle of Midway reveals even *S Contr'frut'on t0 rbe victory was beli ^rCater 'frao has generally been tjle'eved- Almost equally interesting is de • reconstruction of his controversial |3eCIS*on to continue to close the Saipan
Phffi ^Ca<^ °n C^e eve tfre ^attfr °f che
v;Ce PPlne Sea, despite his aviators’ ad- to i ° tUrn west so as t0 fre *n position jaaur,ch against the approaching Sanese at dawn. Buell’s approach to he UaIJ-Ce's symPathetic, but the portrait Spr etS *S unretouched. It shows V,er^ance> warts and all—not that there submarine Stingray’s report, jammed in transmission by the Japanese, which he assumed placed the Japanese fleet much nearer than it actually was. This and just about every other operation involving U. S. submarines in World War II is recounted by Clay Blair, Jr., in his massive Silent Victory: The U. S. Submarine War against Japan. Himself a World War II submariner, Blair interviewed hundreds of officers who were part of the events he describes. His workmanlike chronicle treats the failures and frustrations as well as the final triumph of the submarine campaign. Among the former were the defects of the highly touted Mk XIV torpedo; the neglect, until well into the war, to plan a systematic assault on Japanese merchant shipping; friction between different submarine force commanders; and the overcaution of a significant number of the skippers. Once these problems had been overcome, the Japanese merchant marine was soon swept from the seas. Blair maintains that the submarine blockade alone would have forced Japan to surrender in a matter of months, making the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as unnecessary as the invasion of the Home Islands it was ordered to avert. Some of his arguments may be exaggerated, but all are stimulating.
Probably the most important of the many postwar developments in the U. S. Navy, certainly in a material sense, has been the introduction of nuclear propulsion and weapon systems. Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan, respec-
Notable Naval Books of 1975 89
tively chief and assistant historian of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), describe the paramount role of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover in the creation of the Nuclear Navy, 1946-1962. Granted unrestricted access to the records of the AEC and the Navy Department as well as the Division of Naval Reactors, the authors combine narrative with analytic methods in an attempt to define the principles of the Rickover approach to technological innovation. They conclude that the effectiveness of the admiral’s highly personalized style supports his steadfast assertion that, in a day of increasingly impersonal bureaucracies, the individual and not the organization remains decisive; despite the claims made for managerial systems, "the homely virtues of intellectual integrity, technical honesty, sound analysis, and courageous decisions still have a place in managing the development of technology.” It is regrettable that so fine a piece of research and so encouraging a message is presented in so pedestrian a style.
Another technological innovation of
recent years, maritime rather than naval, has been the appearance of the supertankers, ships—if that is the word —with displacements measured in hundreds of thousands of tons and holds cavernous enough to encompass a Gothic cathedral. In Supership, journalist Noel Mostert describes his passage from Europe to the Persian Gulf and back again on board the P. & O. Line’s Ardshiel, a "medium-sized”—almost a quarter of a mile long—supertanker.
The Ships of the German Fleets 1848-1945
The respect he feels for her officers in no way diminishes his outrage at the menace these monsters pose to the entire marine ecosystem—not so much by the occasional disaster as the constant casual spills incident to their everyday operation. Complex as the problems of regulating this traffic may be, the ecological impact already evident make it alarmingly clear that they must be solved if the seas are to survive.
For up-to-the-minute information on the world’s navies there is still nothing to equal Jane’s Fighting Ships, whose 1974-75 edition appears under the editorship of Captain John E. Moore, Royal Navy (Retired), former Deputy Director of British Naval Intelligence. Illustrated with, over 3,000 photographs, plans, silhouettes, and line drawings, the work covers 15,000 fighting ships in 120 navies. Among the several new features of this edition are a standardized classification system for all ships, facilitating comparisons between countries, and a reorganization of the "Strength of the Fleet” section, showing the active fleet, new construction, and future programs of the major powers in a single table. Captain Moore’s foreword, surveying naval developments over the preceding year, also deserves attention.
Of the numerous pictorials devoted to naval and maritime themes, two stand out: Hans Jurgen Hansen’s The Ships of the German Fleets, 1848-1943 and Francis Dousset’s Les navires de guerre fran^aise de 1830 a nos jours. Hansen provides a low-key review of German naval policy and operations from the Frankfurt Parliament to the fall of the Third Reich, while Dousset discusses the evolution of the various classes of French warships over the last 125 years; but in both cases the texts exist primarily to provide a rationale for the pictures, which are superb. Les navires de guerre franchise is illustrated by close to 700 ship photographs, some dating from the dawn of photography and many never before published. Ships of the
Admiral William Veazie Pratt,
U. S. Navy: A Sailor’s Life
Gerald E. Wheeler. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Governmenr Printing Office. 456 pp. Illus. $8.30.
American Gunboat Diplomacy and the Old Navy, 1877-1889
Kenneth J. Hagan. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 262 pp. $11.00.
Command of the Sea: The History and Strategy of Maritime Empires
Clark G. Reynolds. New York: William Morrow and Co. 642 pp. Illus. $15.00.
0 The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages: A.D. 1492-1616
Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, U. S. Naval Reserve (Retired). New York: Oxford University Press. Illus. 758 pp. $17.50 ($14.00—$28.00 for both volumes).
Gunpowder and Galleys:
Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century
John Francis Guilmartin, Jr. London: Cambridge University Press. 321 pp. Illus. $25.00.
0 Jane’s Fighting Ships: 1974-75
Captain John E. Moore, Royal Navy (Retired), Editor. New York: Franklin Warts. 670 pp. Illus. $65.00 ($58.50).
Les navires de guerre franqaise de 1850 a nos jours
Francis Dousset. Brest, France: Editions de la Cite. 366 pp. Illus. 210 F (Approximately $48.00).
0 Nuclear Navy: 1946-1962 Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 475 pp. Illus. $12.50 ($10.00).
On the Treadmill to Pearl Harbor:
The Memoirs of Admiral James O. Richardson
J. O. Richardson, as told to Vice Admiral George C. Dyer, U. S. Navy (Retired).
Washington, D.C., U. S. Government Printing Office. 558 pp. Illus. $8.95.
German Fleets includes scenes of naval life and operations as well as of the ships themselves, and includes a generous selection of color plates. Both volumes are outstanding examples of the printer’s art.
0 Pursuit
Ludovic Kennedy. New York: Viking Press.
254 pp. Illus. $10.00 ($8.00).
0 The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
Commander Thomas B. Buell, U. S. Navy.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 512 pp.
Illus. $15.00 ($12.00).
@ Red Star Rising at Sea
Admiral Sergei G. Gorshkov,
Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press. 150 pp- Illus. $15.00 ($12.00) (for paper $10.00 [$8.00])-
0 The Ships of the German Fleets, 1848-1945
Hans Jurgen Hansen. New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc. 192 pp. Illus. $25.00 ($20.00).
0 Silent Victory:
The U. S. Submarine War Against Japa°
Clay Blair, Jr. Philadelphia and New York:
J. B. Lippincott Company. 1,072 pp. Illus.
$24.95 ($17.50).
0 Supership
Noel Mostert, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
257 pp. Illus. $8.95 ($7.15).
Swamp Sailors:
Riverine Warfare in the Everglades 1835-1842
Commander George E. Buker, U. S. Navy (Retired). Gainesville, Fla.: The University Presses of Florida. 152 pp. Illus. $6.50.
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