The Fleet Today. By Kendall Banning. New York: Funk and Wagnalls Co. 1940. 346 pages. $2.50.
Reviewed by Captain E. G. Small, U. S. Navy
It was Macauley who took as points of departure the occasions offered by books submitted to him for review to write his lasting essays. Obviously this reviewer is no Macauley. He would like to observe, however, that the time is ripe for a clear restatement of the use of a navy as instrument of national policy both in peace and in war. Such a book would emphasize among other ideas that the primary task of the Navy in war is to gain and exercise control of the seas, to the end that these highways be employed to further the application of military and economic pressure on the enemy; and that the difference between offensive and defensive weapons is largely a state of mind.
This book might properly be entitled “The Men of the Fleet, How They Live and Move, and Have Their Being.” It describes on the whole clearly and accurately, where naval enlisted personnel is obtained, how it is trained, how it lives, what its prospects are, and in great measure how it thinks. It offers to a prospective recruit a factual picture of life today in the Navy.
There are a few inaccuracies, necessarily bound to creep into a book of large sweep. Men are never discharged for any reason in foreign countries. Destroyers have names on their sterns as well as numbers on both bows. On the other hand, the description in detail of the selective recruiting system, the training scheme, the service schools, and flight training make absorbing reading.
Sailor of Fortune. The Life and Adventures of Commodore Barney, U.S.N. By Hulbert Footner. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1940. 305 pages. $3.50.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander E. R. McLean, Jr., U. S. Navy
Sailor of Fortune comes as a refreshing biography that unfolds its story like some fascinating historical novel. A novel it might well be, for the life of Joshua Barney was as full of thrills, of drama, of love and life as any novelist might care to create. At sea at the age of twelve, Joshua Barney early showed his capacity for command and his enjoyment of being master of his own ship. Through a series of circumstances he commanded the Sidney, a leaky tub of a ship, at the age of fifteen years and successfully completed a round trip to the Mediterranean, to the financial satisfaction of the Sidney’s owner.
At the commencement of the Revolution Barney was sixteen, but his youth did not prevent him from obtaining an appointment as second lieutenant of the sloop Hornet. His antagonism toward the British can be understood when we remember that he was captured three times and on one occasion was transported to England in the Yarmouth.
The story of Barney’s escape from Mills Prison and his encounter with the lovely lady whom he proceeded to accompany to Brussels and a meeting with Emperor Joseph of Austria shows a side of his life that was ever present. When enjoyment and good fun were to be had, Joshua Barney was sure to be on hand and enjoy himself with the best.
On the return of Barney from Europe he was offered the command of the Hyder Ally, a craft purchased not long before by the merchants of Philadelphia to be refitted as a fighting ship to protect American vessels through the Delaware Capes. Within the remarkable space of thirteen days Captain Barney had her completely altered, guns mounted, stores aboard, crew recruited and ready for sea. Sailing immediately with his convoy, Captain Barney (now 23 years of age) fought the famous engagement between the Hyder Ally and the General Monk. To quote Fenimore Cooper, “This action has been justly deemed one of the most brilliant that ever occurred under the American flag.”
Barney’s business adventures always led him back to the sea and from the sea he made and lost several fortunes. At one period we find him in the service of France. He has been greatly criticized for this service, but the author states with authority that neither Barney nor any of his ships ever fired on, or stopped, American ships.
During the War of 1812 it was Commodore Barney and his handful of sailors that offered the only resistance to the British at Bladensburg in their march on Washington.
In Sailor of Fortune Hulbert Footner has given us “a great and neglected American hero . . . whose exploits were exceeded only by John Paul Jones.” Footner’s Barney is every inch a hero, as well as a warm human being. The story of Commodore Barney’s contacts with the great men of his time in itself makes interesting reading, considering that those men were Washington, Franklin, John Paul Jones, Robert Morris, James Monroe, Henri Christophe (the Black Napoleon), and others. The reading of Sailor of Fortune will afford some pleasant hours with our young American Navy and one of her most colorful heroes.
The World’s Warships. By Francis E. McMurtrie, A.I.N.A. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd. 1940. 122 pages. 6s. net.
Reviewed by Commander Walter Ansel, U. S. Navy
The late Fred T. Jane first brought out an “Extra” of his Jane’s Fighting Ships in pocket edition form, such as this, during the World War. This present edition, which has been compiled by the editor of Jane’s, has the same purpose in view: to present during hostilities an up-to-date list, with outline characteristics, of all existing war vessels, some typical illustrations, and a summary of war losses for each belligerent. Auxiliary vessels are mentioned only in outline.
The war casualty lists provide the handy volume’s greatest professional interest. They apparently run through July of 1940. In the list for France, mention is made of the vessels damaged at Oran, but no mention is made of the Richelieu at Dakar. The German list, quite naturally, is less complete than some others. No accounting has been made of the French vessels in British hands, nor has the status of war vessels of German-conquered countries such as Norway and the Netherlands been clarified. All vessels are listed under their original owners.
Only the names of vessels are printed on the illustrations and these are not always with their ship lists, as for instance the cut of the Yugoslav destroyer Beograd, which appears in the United States section. Perhaps the illustrations would be of readier use to the layman if more identification data and brief characteristics were printed under each one. It would also be helpful if the number of each type of ship were added after the type or class name.
The book is well prepared and should prove useful for keeping abreast of the navies in the war.
A project of added interest would be an effort to record the distribution of the belligerent warships into the various fleets and the locations of those fleets.
The Flight from the Flag. By George W. Dalzell. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 1940. 292 pages. $3.50.
Reviewed by Commander George W. Brashears, Jr., U. S. Navy
George W. Dalzell has searched masses of records to give us an authentic story of the exploits of a few Confederate cruisers that drove American shipping from our flag to neutral colors for protection. Interestingly he describes how this handful of raiders occupied a disproportionate number of the best in the Union Navy, while they demoralized a great merchant marine.
In order to understand the background for such a work one should have at least a speaking acquaintance with what until the present decade was known as international law; particularly that part dealing with neutrality, blockade, and contraband. In addition he should be familiar to some extent with the language of the sea.
Realizing this, the author effectively prepares his reader by laying a foundation of well-chosen material that is helpful. His language is breezy in spots, blowing gently sarcastic and amusing, then hauling to the quadrant of the serious and sincere.
Throughout he shows that court decisions of neutral Britain and France concerning belligerent and neutral rights were influenced by their national interests—a lesson which most Americans have not learned even to the present day.
His descriptions of each raider’s exploits reach a climax in the battle between the Alabama and Kearsarge, which is described from a novel point of view. The crowd that assembled on the bluffs around Cherbourg before this battle must have compared to the one recently gathered, complete with radio announcers, to observe the tragedy of the Graf Spee, whose end was such a contrast to that of the Alabama.
The last part of the book presents an admirable case for a merchant marine in the light of lessons learned through its loss.
Portuguese Voyages to America in the Fifteenth Century. By Samuel Eliot Morison. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1940. 151 pages. $2.00.
Reviewed by Commander O. C. Laird, U. S. Navy
In disposing of Portuguese claims of discoveries in America prior to those of Columbus, and in analyzing the accounts of the southern voyages to Brazil, the author has made available in English a wealth of material to those interested in early seafarers. Too few are aware of the part the Portuguese have played in all things maritime; that, as a people, the sea is near their hearts. Whereas early New Englanders looked to the sea for a great part of their life and sustenance, the Portuguese have from the beginning of history done so. Both at home and in their colonies, and as immigrants to other lands, the Portuguese inevitably settle within reach of the sea and continue their ancient calling. To take exception to Professor Morison’s material, in Conde’s History of the Arabs in Spain 2| pages are devoted to early voyages of some natives of Lisbon while still under Arab domination. Therein the Azores are mentioned as being first discovered in 405 of the Hegira, or 1027 A.D. In the Spanish Encyclopedia Espasa-Calpe it is stated that the fact that Punic coins have been found in the Azores proves that the islands were known to the Carthaginians, as they were later to the Arabs and the Normans. Such evidence, with statements of the Mexican aborigines concerning a “golden- hair god” from the east, supports the reasonable belief that early voyages were made from Europe. With the Portuguese way of life and their salient position in the Atlantic, who sooner than they?
Mobilizing Civilian America. By Harold J. Tobin and Percy W. Bidwell. New York: Council on Foreign Relations. 1940. 276 pages. $2.75.
Reviewed by Brockholst Livingston
Whether we shall become active participants in this or the wars that may follow no man can yet predict, but it is reassuring that the plans described by the authors of Mobilizing Civilian America have been made.
The authors have done a splendid job in reviewing our wasted and duplicatory efforts of the past and analyzing future intentions. We should not fear dictatorship in war time as much as the possibility of uncoordinated effort. The Industrial Mobilization Plan gives us a basis upon which to work, but the human effort which must be involved requires greater attention. The recent formation of the National Defense Committee will permit us better to determine our potential strength in advance of the confusion of war and may even be looked upon as the nucleus of the War Resources Administration contemplated by the plan.
Recent months have given us evidence that our past views may not have been sufficiently farsighted. Our estimates of man power needed for our defense have been materially revised; our industrial capacity in the light of mechanization demands is due for a wholly unforeseen expansion. The plan we have drawn up would seem to be sufficiently flexible to meet our needs. The details of its execution may, on the other hand, require greater effort than was originally anticipated.
The enormous war-time demands on industry involve so much if success is to be achieved. Interunion friction among labor, the relationship between the demands of the armed forces and the civilian population, and the pursuit of war with a minimum of after effect—these are but a few of the points which require consideration. Modern war demands the effort of every part of a nation’s people, and the civilian may therefore rightfully require unquestioned ability in the military leader. A clear understanding of the relationship which must exist should be demanded of every officer. This book will assist in obtaining such an understanding and may, consequently, be suggested as required reading, not only for officers engaged in supply and procurement, but for all others as well.