Brittany patrol. By H. Wickliffe Rose. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 368 pages. Illustrated. 1937. $3.50.
Reviewed by Captain J. F. Shafroth, U. S. Navy
Brittany Patrol is a vivid and lively picture of the activities of the yachts and destroyers that were based on Brest during the World War, their trials and tribulations, their triumphs and disasters. It was the yachts and destroyers that formed the principal anti-submarine protection for the ocean and coastal convoys and Mr. Rose served on the former as a radio operator and then as an ensign and in this rank served later on the destroyer Wadsworth. With this background he has depicted the struggles of these small vessels not only against the submarines but also against the storm and fog that were so prevalent off the French coast.
The activities of the submarine which operated so successfully off Penmarch that it acquired the nickname of Penmarch Pete, the sinking of the President Lincoln, the Covington, and the Westover, the torpedoing of the Mount Vernon, the rescue of the survivors from these and other ships takes one back 20 years to those days when ALLO’S (radio broadcasts reporting submarine attacks) and S.O.S. messages were of daily occurrence.
Of necessity there was a great similarity in these submarine attacks even though the vessels engaged were different but Mr. Rose was a good observer who has the gift of painting, in words, clear, vivid, and stirring pictures.
The moments of relaxation ashore are touched upon but lightly and a little more space devoted to this would have added interest to the narrative. There were many such times there for I can still remember the officers from the coal-burning destroyers at the officers’ club in Brest as they sat around a large table singing:
In the English Channel and the Irish Sea
Fritz is raising hell, he’s almost running free,
But in the Bay of Biscay who wears the pants?
It’s the old coal burners that are based on France.
Mr. Rose also briefly passes over the many long watches when no submarines were encountered. The stirring events of 17 months of anti-submarine warfare are naturally recorded but in reading this interesting book one must guard against thinking that on every trip submarines were sighted. Many officers who spent months in the war zone never got a glimpse of a periscope.
In the Epilogue there is included a list of the 20 yachts that were a part of the Brittany Patrol, none of which is still in operation. It is interesting to note that many of these yachts were “loaned to the Navy on a free lease,” an act of patriotism and generosity on the part of their owners that should not be forgotten.
Brittany Patrol will vividly recall to those who were there the strenuous days when they were hunting the Hun and will give to those who were not there a splendid picture of the life on the ships of the coastal and ocean convoys that operated from Brest.
The Second Admiral; A Life of David Dixon Porter, 1813-1891. By Richard S. West, Jr. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc. 1937. 376 pages. $5.00.
Reviewed by Louis H. Bolander, U. S. Naval Academy
David Dixon Porter merits the claim of being one of the most distinguished men that the United States Navy has produced. A veteran of the Mexican and the Civil Wars, and for sixty-two years an officer in the American Navy, he made for himself a record of solid achievement that future generations of naval officers may well emulate. For he was given more difficult assignments, commanded more ships and men, won a greater number of victories, and was more often awarded the thanks of Congress than any other officer who has ever been given a commission in the Navy of the United States. He was also the second officer in the history of the country to hold the coveted rank of Admiral of the Navy. In addition to being an officer of the first rank in his chosen profession, he was an inventor, a historian, and an author of no mean ability. His plan for the attack on New Orleans shows him at his best as an innovator in tactical method, and no man North or South, unless we except Grant himself, better grasped the problem of the war as a whole, and understood the strategy necessary for the final success of the Union cause. As its first Superintendent after the Civil War he rescued the Naval Academy from a conservative, puritanical curriculum, whose courses had been mapped out for the days of wooden ships, sail propulsion, and smoothbore cannon, and introduced a system of modern gunnery instruction based on the invaluable practical experience of ordinance officers in the war, organized a new department of “Steam Enginery,” abolished the hateful system of espionage then in vogue at the Academy by putting the midshipmen on their honor, introduced physical training and athletic sports, and transformed the Academy into an institution of national importance.
It is a matter of wonder that such a man, who gave to the country contributions of such real importance, should so long have waited for a competent biographer. Almost without end biographies have been written of Grant, Lee, and almost every soldier of distinction who served in the Civil War, North or South. But the naval officers, with the single exception of Farragut, have been sadly neglected. Possibly the cause of this was the fact that the Navy Department exercised a strict censorship on the news emanating from its fleets, so that its leaders became less familiar figures to the public than did Army officers of less achievement. And, too, after the war Porter became embroiled in a long-drawn-out controversy with General Benjamin F. Butler, a controversy that did neither of them much credit, and the public tired of hearing about them.
But there can be no doubt that in Professor West Admiral Porter has found a most competent and conscientious biographer. This book must take its place as one of the most scholarly contributions to a most neglected phase of our national history—the activities and accomplishments of the Federal Navy in the Civil War. The author has spared himself no labor, and has brought to his writing the most indefatigable research. Manuscripts in public and private collections, the vast accumulation of reports and letters in the Navy Department archives, newspapers, diaries, and memoirs of the period, all have been subjected to the keenest scrutiny and analysis, making this a book that students of the Civil War cannot afford to pass by. The book is documented and indexed in a manner to bring joy to a scholar’s heart, and is illustrated with contemporary portraits, photographs, and cartoons. Professor West’s strikingly graphic style adds much to the reader’s pleasure in perusing this fascinating biography of a remarkable American.
Thumb-Nail Reviews of New Books
Look to Your Moat. By Admiral Sir Barry Dom- vile. London: Hutchinson & Co., Ltd. 1937. 256 pages. 10s. 6d.
The burden of Admiral Sir Barry Domvile’s book is that Britain, in her dependence on the sea, is unique among the powers of the world, and that if she would survive she must ever be strong at sea.
Diesel Engine Design. H. F. P. Purday. New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 4th ed., 1937. 520 pages. $8.00.
In preparing this Fourth Edition, the author has taken account of the rapid developments in the Diesel engine field during the last decade. The functions and details of large and small engines are considered side by side and prominence is given to the principle of similitude which has been applied to fundamental problems of design such as heat flow, lubrication, fuel injection, vibration stresses, etc.—Western Society of Naval Engineers.
Zeppelin. By Captain Ernst A. Lehmann. New York: Longmans, Green and Co. 1937. 365 pages, 19 illustrations. $3.00.
Not the least of the 36 individual tragedies of the flaming end of the Hindenburg was the death of the world-famous leader in airship development, Captain Ernst A. Lehmann. Captain Lehmann had been associated with Zeppelin operation for the greater part of his life and had commanded numerous air vessels in peace and war. He had completed his book shortly before the last voyage of the Hindenburg.
Captain Lehmann tells of the early days of Zeppelin manufacture and the struggles of Count Zeppelin to gain official recognition for his invention. A large part of the book concerns itself with the war-time operations of the dirigibles. The many accounts of raids over England are indeed thrilling. Absorbing, too, is the story of what the Zeppelins did during the Battle of Jutland; for the information they furnished influenced in large measure the tactics of the German admiral. A vivid chapter recounts the voyage over Africa in 1917 of the L-59 in its abortive effort to carry supplies to the German East African forces. The author makes the point that even as early as 1917 the long-range possibilities of the Zeppelin had been demonstrated—although the story of the flight was not to be known to the world for years.
The final chapter was written by Commander Charles E. Rosendahl, U. S. Navy, the authority on dirigible operation on this side of the Atlantic. Commander Rosendahl describes the tragic end of the Hindenburg and analyzes the possible causes of the disaster. Finally, he pays tribute to the author, who was, moreover, his friend.—The Coast Artillery Journal. September-October.
Wrinkles in Practical Navigation. By Captain Lecky. 22d ed., revised and enlarged by Captain G. P. Bowen, O.B.E., R.N. (Ret.) G. Philip & Son. 1937. 30s.
Every sailor knows what is meant by a “wrinkle,” but when such a well-known expert as Captain Lecky places his “cut and dried” at the disposal of members of the profession with less varied experience than himself, it is small wonder that this has met with an immediate and enthusiastic welcome.
That, in fact, is the aim of this new issue of Wrinkles, which contains many important differences and additions, particularly in dealing with the new pattern abridged Nautical Almanac, the revised Gyro Compass and Automatic Helmsman, Directional Wireless Telegraphy, etc., to mention only a few.
With index and tables, the book consists of over 800 pages, and “played out” methods are replaced by others of greater pliability and less “ponderosity.”