Destroyer Skipper: A Memoir of Command at Sea

Looks at the naval career of officer Don Sheppard, covering his stints as an executive officer of a destroyer, and then as commander of another one, with the high points and difficulties of his posts

Destroyer Skipper: A Memoir of Command at Sea concludes Don Sheppard's trilogy of books (the others are Blue Water Sailor and Riverine) about his life in the Navy. This time out, Shappard details his adventures at the helm of a U.S. Navy destroyer.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The third volume of Sheppard's admirable memoirs relays his experience of command at sea. A mustang (i.e., an officer promoted from the ranks), Sheppard began his sea service as executive officer of a destroyer whose thoroughly inept skipper was soon replaced by a thoroughly competent one. Later, just after the Vietnam War, he himself commanded a West Coast^-based destroyer and endured a disastrous executive officer who was succeeded by an outstanding one. Aboard both ships, Sheppard had to deal with the personal quirks and quiddities of officers and men, with his own limitations (he never could actually navigate), with naval bureaucracy, and with such untoward events as collision with a whale while taking a Navy League party on a cruise. This is a story of the art and science of command at sea by a man who learned it well and experienced all its joys and burdens. Roland Green

Sheppard (Bluewater Sailor, Presidio, 1996), who was a highly decorated sailor, tells here the story of his naval career, which spanned almost 30 years. He concentrates on his command of the destroyer USS Cambridge. A "mustang" of an officer who came from the enlisted ranks, Sheppard gives a very compelling and interesting story of life for the captain of a U.S. Navy warship. He describes how he went to his command with an idea of what a captain should be but quickly learned otherwise. In a narrative as gripping as any modern technothriller, Sheppard tells how he took command of a decaying ship and a crew with low morale and turned the Cambridge into a top-notch warship. In an appropriate naval term, his work deserves a "bravo Zulu" (well done). Essential for any library dealing with naval or military science.?Terry L. Wirick, Erie Cty. Lib. System, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.