 AROUND
THE WORLD WITH THE U.S. NAVY: A Reporter's Travels, by Bradley
Peniston. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1999. 224pp. $25.95
[Phone: (800) 2338764; Internet: www.nip.org]
Reviewed by
Gordon I. Peterson, Senior Editor
The Navy
Recruiting Command's official motto is "Let the Journey Begin."
Most Americans--if asked--would probably say that it is "Join the
Navy and See the World." In a sense, Bradley Peniston, a staff writer
for the Navy Times, took both messages to heart in writing his
comprehensive cruise book on today's U.S. Navy. Hitching rides in military
aircraft along the way, Peniston flew more than 65,000 air miles during
1998 and 1999 to reach 36 ships and submarines assigned to all of the
Navy's numbered fleets. Along the way, he also visited numerous bases
around the globe. His journey thoroughly documents the day-to-day lives of
Sailors forward-deployed to the most distant reaches of the world's
oceans.
On the
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, steaming in the
Adriatic Sea off the coast of Yugoslavia in support of NATO operations, a
young petty officer told Peniston, "This [ship] is like a magic
carpet, and we're ready to move anywhere on earth to do our jobs."
Peniston takes the reader on his own magic carpet over the next 223
pages--recounting his experiences with Navy men and women in Europe, the
Pacific, and Latin America, as well as in the war zone in the Persian
Gulf. His pride in the American bluejacket rings through clearly on every
page. "... U.S. Navy Sailors perform a mind-boggling array of
missions: air strikes, covert operations, humanitarian aid, peacekeeping,
and showing the flag a hundred ways in a hundred countries," he
writes. "No one else does this. No one else can."
From the frigate
USS Halyburton's underway refueling from the Dutch oiler Zuiderkruis in
the Baltic Sea to the frigate USS Doyle's Unitas exercise with the Chilean
Navy in the South Pacific, from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS
Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf to the USS Independence operating west
of Hawaii, from the hours-long maritime air patrol mission of a P-3C Orion
to the agile F/A-18C Hornet strike fighter operating in the skies off
Kosovo, Peniston has painted a remarkably detailed, honest portrait of
life in today's Navy. There is the excitement of night operations at sea,
the separation from families and loved ones, the skill of submariners
stealthily stalking their prey in the ocean's depths, and the complexity
of mine hunting in the littorals.
Beyond his
engaging description of Navy people, ships, and aircraft operating on and
under the sea, and in the air above, Peniston places his on-scene reports
in the context of U.S. national-security strategy, foreign policy, and
today's reduced force structure. He describes how the Navy--operating with
a fleet that has been slashed in size by 40 percent during the past
decade--must cope with an operational tempo that is higher than it was
during the Cold War. As Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay L. Johnson told
the International Seapower Symposium at the Naval War College recently,
"Today the requirements for United States' naval forces exceed the
numbers." Peniston drives this message home with telling effect.
Aboard the
aircraft carrier USS Independence, Aviation Machinist's Mate 3rd Class Joe
Taylor reflected on his life as a Sailor during a conversation with
Peniston. Thoughts turned to family and friends in the civilian world.
"I wish they could see what I see," Taylor said in speaking of
his carrier's around-the-clock flight operations. "You just can't
explain it." Peniston has said that he hopes his book can help. It
does. Immensely.
List Price:
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Hardcover
- 208 pages (October 1999)
United States Naval Inst.; ISBN: 1557506655
RAIDERS
OF THE CHINA COAST: CIA Covert Operations During the Korean War, by
Frank Holober. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1999. 272 pp.
$32.95. [Phone: (800) 2338764; Internet: www.nip.org] As part of the
Naval Institute Special Warfare series, Holober takes a look at the
little-known world of clandestine partisan operation early in the Cold War
in which the CIA sponsored a series of raids along the southeastern coast
of China conducted by anti-Communist guerrillas. His eyewitness account is
candid and insightful, offering--for the first time in print--the story of
the large-scale paramilitary campaign used to divert China's attention
from the Korean front. Holober, a CIA Far East specialist from 1947
through 1971, served with the Quemoy partisans for 10 months in 19511952.
With glossary, bibliography, index, two maps, and 16 pages of
black-and-white photography.
List
Price: $32.95
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Hardcover - 336 pages (June 1999)
United States Naval Inst.; ISBN: 1557503885 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.91
x 9.25 x 6.26
Q-SHIPS
VERSUS U-BOATS: America's Secret Project, by Kenneth M. Beyer.
Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1999. 262 pp. $32.95. [Phone: (800)
2338764; Internet: www.nip.org] Beyer is the only surviving officer of a
Q-ship to chronicle what has been described as the "most
self-destructive operation undertaken by the U.S. Navy in World War
II." Q-ships, heavily armed warships used as decoys disguised as
merchant ships, were the main ingredient of President Franklin Roosevelt's
secret Project LQ. Beyer offers insight not only into his own ship's
operations but into the events surrounding the sinking of USS Atik. He
examines the hunt-and-attack strategies of U-boats, U-123 in particular,
and supplies several never-before-published charts of U-boat maneuvers
along with an evaluation of specific U-boat attacks. With notes,
bibliography, index, four appendixes, eight pages of black-and-white
photography, and illustrations throughout.
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Hardcover
- 272 pages (May 1999)
United States Naval Inst.; ISBN: 1557500444 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.86
x 9.33 x 6.28
Note: All phone numbers and Internet
addresses are believed to be current as of 1 November 1999. If no number is given, the
information was not available at the time of publication.
Unless otherwise noted, the preceding
book reviews were written by Production Editor Jennifer M. Price. |
