Complete Nautical Astronomer
Charles H. Cotter, New York: American Elsevier Publishing Co., 1969. 336 pp. Illus. $11.75
Reviewed by Captain Henry H. Shufeldt U. S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
(Captain Shufeldt is a consultant to Weems and Plath, Inc. His years of study and experience as navigator and commanding officer on board various ships qualify him to evaluate authoritatively about navigation. He has written articles, primarily on celestial navigation, for both U. S. and foreign magazines, including the PROCEEDINGS. He is co-author of the 12th edition of Dutton’s Navigation and Piloting, published by the U. S. Naval Institute.)
This latest of several books in the field of nautical astronomy is devoted to what we in the United States now call celestial navigation. Complete Nautical Astronomer covers this subject thoroughly.
The author, Charles H. Cotter, has had many years of experience in the British merchant marine, qualifying as master in 1943 and extra master in 1947. Currently, he is senior lecturer in the Department of Maritime Studies at the University of Wales.
He has written a number of books in the field of navigation, including the excellent History of Nautical Astronomy.
Every facet of the subject of celestial navigation is well explained in the Complete Nautical Astronomer. For example, about seven pages are devoted to refraction. The original empiric method of determining its value is described, as are the mathematical formulae involved. Similarly, some 16 pages are devoted to the sextant, its theory, and its adjustable and non-adjustable errors, and more than three pages to the spring-driven chronometer. In connection with the latter, this reviewer considers it unfortunate that the quartz-crystal chronometer, now coming into use afloat, is not mentioned.
The subject of navigational errors, all too often not mentioned in marine texts, is thoroughly explored, and the practice of celestial navigation afloat is well covered. This book is highly recommended both to the working navigator and the student who wishes to understand the “why” as well as the “how” of celestial navigation, particularly if he has a good knowledge of mathematics.
Confirm or Deny
Phil G. Goulding. New York: Harper & Row, 1970, 369 pp. $7.95.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Charles R. Pursley, U. S. Naval Reserve.
(Lieutenant Pursley, a graduate of Brigham Young University in 1961, underwent flight training at Pensacola, Florida, in 1961-1962. He has served in Helicopter Utility Squadron One, and as a helicopter test pilot at the Naval Air Rework Facility, North Island Naval Air Station, Coronado, California, and with Tactical Air Control Squadron 11, Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, California. He is presently taking graduate studies at the University of Arizona.)
Confirm or Deny is truly a dual-purpose book in the finest sense of the term. It was written to describe the manner in which the U. S. government communicates with its citizens. It accomplishes that goal, and it is also entertaining.
Mr. Goulding comes well-equipped for his mission. After 15 years in Washington as a newspaper reporter, specializing in military affairs and based at the Pentagon, in 1965 he was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) by the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. In January 1967, President Johnson appointed him Assistant Secretary of Defense to succeed Arthur Sylvester. He held this post under both Secretary McNamara and his successor, Clark Clifford, until the Nixon administration assumed control. Certainly, he is well-qualified to speak out on the subject of public affairs and communication, having participated from both sides of the fence.
Perhaps one of the reasons this book is so impressive is the great abyss of ignorance associated with public affairs, especially as it is practiced by the government. Terms like “propaganda” and “brain washing” have brought such a negative aspect to this extremely important phase of communication, that most of us prefer to avoid the topic as personally repugnant. This is not only archaic, but it is unjustifiable in light of our modern-day world.
Mr. Goulding presents some striking examples of both success and failure in the public affairs field. The ten chapters of Confirm and Deny deal with: the overflight of a French atomic installation by one United States reconnaissance aircraft in July 1965; the loss of a hydrogen bomb off the coast of Spain in January 1966; the series of articles by Harrison Salisbury, appearing in The New York Times, and based on his experiences in North Vietnam, which were highly critical of our war effort; the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty (AGTR-5), during the Six-Day War in June 1967; the strafing of a Russian cargo ship in North Vietnam by U. S. aircraft, also in June 1967, which was first denied and later admitted; McNamara’s efforts to de-escalate the war in Vietnam (efforts largely unheralded and misinterpreted); the decision in September 1967 to proceed with a limited, anti-Chinese anti-ballistic missile system, rather than the full anti-Soviet, system; the loss of four more hydrogen bombs in Greenland in January 1968; the seizure of the USS Pueblo (AGTR[sic]-2) by North Koreans, also in January 1968; and the Clark Clifford regime and the beginning of disengagement from Vietnam, February 1968 to January 1969.
To each of these crucial events, he brings the story as seen by one who was in an important and sensitive enough position to have access to all the information as it became available. His conclusions hardly represent a whitewash or an abject apology for what was done.
Several lessons, valuable for a military officer, can be gleaned from this book. Perhaps the most important is that each person must take the responsibility for his own actions. The inadvertent overflight of the French atomic installation, which strained already-tight French-American relations, was the result of an error in flight clearance transmission sent by, and received by, low-ranking personnel. The strafing of the Russian freighter was vehemently denied by the U. S. government on the strength of all available field reports, and only later was it discovered that an Air Force colonel had withheld a report on the attack in order to protect two of his men. So often in history it is evident that some of the most important and long-reaching events have hinged on relatively minor and inconsequential actions.
Mr. Goulding mentions the pressures for a much more rapid initial buildup of air attacks against North Vietnam rather than the gradual escalation which was carried out. His argument (actually McNamara’s argument) was that no one had ever shown through their analysis that a more rapid buildup would have reduced casualties. While this may be true in regard to our ground forces, it is clear that he did not ask any of the pilots flying attack missions over North Vietnam, after watching the air defenses blossom from relatively light and ineffective to the strongest in history.
The Armed Forces get their share of both accolades and bricks. The Navy, in particular, is singled out as being something of an entity unto itself, and always more of an individualist than one of the “team.”
The book is well worth reading, h is enlightening in regard to the problems and complexities of dealing with the public and the news media in regard to the Defense Department and its policies. There is humor as well as concern. Perhaps in the gravity of the multitude of crises popping up, it is reassuring to know that some officials can still appreciate a slight touch of humor, even at their own expense.
Professional Reading
Compiled by Robert A. Lambert, Associate Editor
Airborne
Charles MacDonald. New York: Ballantine, 1970. 160 pp. Illus. $1.00 (paper).
With a natural emphasis on the German invasion of Crete and the Allied landings in Operation Market-Garden, World War II’s airborne assaults are reviewed.
Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War
Warren Ripley. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1970. 384 pp. Illus. $22.50.
Comprehensive and detailed in text and illustrations, with appendixes containing statistical data and lists of manufacturers, inspectors, and marks; a glossary; a full bibliography and a thorough index, this is a reference that will find a useful place in many collections.
The Battleship in the United States Navy
Naval History Division, Navy Department. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1970. 64 pp. Illus. $.65 (paper).
From the America in 1782 to the New Jersey off Vietnam, this excellent brochure surveys the history of the ship-of-the-line, reviews the coast defense monitors and then emphasizes the more recent history of the true battleship. Tables following the narrative give technical data and service records for all battleships and there is a chronology for ships-of-the-line and battleships from 13 October 1775 to 17 December 1969.
The Campaign That Won America
Burke Davis. New York; Dial Press, 1970. 319 pp. Illus. $8.95.
Much original source material has been gathered and, in a most dramatic telling, fashioned into an exciting narrative of how Cornwallis was trapped at Yorktown by a nondescript army on the land and a French fleet that for one small moment took command of the sea from an English fleet. The author is to be especially commended for his excellent personality descriptions. Even though this is a popular history, more maps would have been useful as would have been a list of the units engaged on both sides at this last battle of the Revolutionary War.
The Convict Ships 1787-1868
Charles Bateson. Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1969. 421 pp. Illus. $9.00.
First published in 1959, this is an enlarged second edition of a standard work covering the transportation of criminals from Great Britain to Australia.
Criteria for the Evaluation of Arms Control Options
Richard Perle. Waltham, Mass.: Westinghouse Electric Corp. Advanced Studies Group, April 1970. 19 pp. $1.25.
This monograph explores a variety of Soviet-American actions which could affect potential arms control agreements, particularly constraints on the launching of direct attacks by one nation against the other.
The Defense of Moscow
Geoffrey Jukes. New York: Ballantine, 1970. 158 pp. Illus. $1.00 (paper).
Pictures and authoritative analysis arc combined with sizable extracts from Marshal Zhukov’s writings to produce a most effective survey of this famous campaign. The introduction is provided by General Hasso von Manteuffel.
The Emerging Nations and the American Revolution
Richard B. Morris. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. 238 pp. $6.95.
With great clarity, this eminent scholar demonstrates the continuing power of the American Revolutionary ideals on the newly independent countries of Africa and Asia, as well as the countries of Europe and Latin America.
First on the Moon
Gene Farmer and Dora Jane Hamblin. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970. 434 pp. Illus. $7.95.
In journalistic style, this is the official account of Apollo 11, “A Voyage with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.”
The First to Fly
Sherwood Harris. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970. 316 pp. Illus. $7.50.
Aviation’s most exciting and flamboyant era—the years between 1900 and 1915—are recaptured from diaries, letters, and newspaper articles.
From the Lower Deck
Henry Baynham. Barre, Mass.: Barre, 1970. 200 pp. Illus. $8.50.
The excitement and carnage of battle, and the brutality and drudgery of everyday life of people in the Royal Navy at the peak of its power in the years 1780 to 1840 are described in the writings of seven seamen who viewed from the lower deck.
The Information War
Dale Minor. New York: Hawthorn, 1970. 212 pp. $6.95.
An experienced journalist provides a revealing examination of the extent to which news is managed by the government and the news reporting agencies themselves.
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
Richard Ward and Ernest R. McDowell. New York: Arco, 1969. 48 pp. Illus. $2.95 (paper).
Action photographs and color illustrations show this fighter as it appeared in the air forces of the United States, France, Italy, and the Chinese Nationalists.
The Making of an Ex-Astronaut
Brian O’Leary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970. 243 pp. Illus. $5.95.
Not a jet pilot, but a planetary astronomer, after his second solo in jet training the author decided to quit the space program. He has much praise for NASA and the astronauts, but he severely criticizes the program for becoming too big; an inflexible, vested interest.
My Lai 4
Seymour M. Hersh. New York: Random House, 1970. 210 pp. $5.95.
With a calm, almost detached style, this former police reporter for a Chicago newspaper presents evidence of the My Lai massacre as given by the many eyewitnesses that he interviewed and from transcripts of interrogations conducted by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Inspector General.
Naval Aviation in World War I
Adrian O. Van Wyen. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1969. 90 pp. Illus. $1.25 (paper).
The series of monthly articles that appeared three years ago in Naval Aviation News have been brought together to form a useful and well-illustrated history.
No Parachute
Arthur Gould Lee. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. 234 pp. Illus. $5.95.
The letters and log-book and diary entries which make up this volume were written in France in 1917 when the author was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. Taken together they recreate the aerial world of the open cockpit, wind screaming through bracing wires, and the dogfights. Three appendixes provide retrospective comment on “The Failure in High Command,” “Trenchard’s Strategy of the Offensive,” and “Why No Parachutes?” The writer retired as an Air Vice-Marshal in 1946.
North American P-51B/C Mustang in USAAF Service
Richard Ward and Ernest R. McDowell. New York: Arco, 1969. 48 pp. Illus. $2.95 (paper).
The combat history of this famous fighter is told in a narrative backed by many photographs and color drawings.
The Nuremberg Rallies
Alan Wykes. New York: Ballantine, 1970. 160 pp. Illus. $1.00 (paper).
A chilling reminder of the Nazi Party rallies, their organization, emotionalism, theatrical techniques—the art of mass persuasion at its diabolical best.
One Morning in the War
Richard Hammer. New York: Coward-McCann, 1970. 207 pp. Illus. $5.95.
“Was the massacre at Song My unique, an aberration in the American involvement in Vietnam?” The answer according to this author is an absolute “No.” While basically a minute reconstruction of that tragedy, there is a larger point being made: before the American intervention the guerrilla war had little effect on the daily life of the common villager, but the American military brought impersonal killing—napalm attacks, free-fire zones, search and destroy missions, and B-52 raids.
Operation Overflight
Francis Gary Powers. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970. 375 pp. Illus. $6.95.
The pilot of the fateful U-2 spy mission over Russia tells his side of the story.
The Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Alfred D. Chandler (ed.). Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1970. 5 vols. 3,110 pp. Illus. $75.00.
Though obviously and primarily intended for scholars, these carefully selected papers from The War Years are of interest to anyone wishing to have a very detailed view of the inner workings of the mind and the personal character of a military leader.
The Racing-Cruiser
Richard Henderson. Chicago: Reilly and Lee, 1970. 213 pp. Illus. $12.50.
Drawings, diagrams, and explanations offer a comprehensive coverage of the subject for the racing novice and the experienced sailor who may wish to handle larger craft; of interest also to prospective buyers and those who would be crew members. Such topics as estimating hull design, rigging, selection of equipment and pricing are covered.
Raider 16
Edwin P. Hoyt. New York: World, 1970. 255 pp. $6.95.
Using Captain Bernard Rogge’s reports and other sources, this well-regarded author continues his series concerning German commerce raiders with this account of the famous World War II Atlantis.
The Siege
Russell Braddon. New York: Viking, 1970. 352 pp. Illus. $6.95.
The 1916 siege of Kut El Amarah in Mesopotamia need never have happened, but did, and, for Britain, resulted in the worst defeat between Balaclava and Singapore. In this history, military stupidity and British caste discrimination are the undeniable features of this nearly forgotten World War I battle.
Trimaran Against the Trades
Jean Cole. Tuckahoe, N.Y.: John de Graff, 1970. 187 pp. Illus. $5.95.
This is a first-person account of how a father, mother, two grown children, and a 90-year-old grandmother built a 40-foot boat 8,300 feet above sea level, 326 miles from the sea, got it to the sea; then sailed it from Mombasa, Kenya, across 12,000 miles of open water to Wellington, New Zealand.
The United States Navy
Naval History Division, Navy Department. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1969. 40 pp. Illus. $.45 (paper).
Basically a combination of narrative, illustrations and chronological lists, this brief brochure is a pointed reminder of the meaning of seapower and its influence on American history from the Revolution to the present.
The Vietnamese and Their Revolution
John T. McAlister, Jr. and Paul Mus. New York: Harper and Row, 1970. 173 pp. $5.95.
This may be the most unusual book on Vietnam as it represents an unusual collaboration between a French professor and his American student. Major portions written by the late Professor Mus 20 years ago after many years of study and experience in Indo China show how the Communists made involvement in the modern politics of revolution relevant to peasant society and village traditions.
A World In Flames
Martha Byrd Hoyle. New York: Atheneum, 1970. 356 pp. Illus. $10.00.
By breaking World War II into its separate or component wars, and then concentrating on the “how” rather than the “why” of military events, in chronological order, the author brings a refreshing clarity to those events so recently past. Students and knowledgeable historians alike will find this volume helpful.
RE-ISSUE
Queen of the Flat-Tops
Stanley Johnston. New York: Ballantine [1942], 1970. 238 pp. Illus. $.95 (paper).