Cutter turned down a music scholarship at an Illinois college to attend the Naval Academy, where he became an All-American football star and standout on the boxing team. Following graduation in 1935, Cutter embarked on a career heavily intertwined with sports. His first duty was as football coach for the team of the battleship USS Idaho (BB-42). After submarine school he coached football at the Naval Academy with collateral duty in the USS S-30 (SS-135). World War II found him in the crew of the USS Pompano (SS-181), where he made a name for himself as a brilliant submariner – a reputation that was further enhanced by his wartime commands of the USS Seahorse (SS-304) and the USS Requin (SS-481). Cutter provides an excellent picture of wartime sub duty: the attributes required of a good skipper and opinions of all the top names, description of the experience of undergoing a depth charge attack, the quality of food on board subs, and the craziness of submariners letting off steam between patrols. After the war, Cutter took charge of the Navy sports program, taking an armed forces team to the 1948 London Olympics, where he refereed boxing. His first volume ends with discussion of his assignment as executive officer of the tender USS Sperry (AS-12) in 1949–50. In the second volume, Cutter picks up his career with his unsatisfying service as Commander Submarine Division 32 in the early 1950s. He moved on to a more interesting assignment as director of the Special Services program, where he was concerned with officers' clubs and liquor sales. Next came a stint in the Navy Information Office in the mid-1950s, where he became embroiled with the problems of security leaks, Admiral Rickover, and the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). He commanded the command ship USS Northampton (CLC-1) when she was Second Fleet flagship. Other tours discussed include NATO duty in Naples, director of athletics at the Naval Academy in the late 1950s, and director of the Navy Museum, from which he retired in 1966. Cutter's reminiscences of his varied career are enhanced by his humility and humor, evident throughout.
Paul Stillwell is an independent historian and retired naval officer. He worked for thirty years at the U.S. Naval Institute as an oral historian and editor of Naval History magazine. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, including four on battleships and an award-winning volume on the Navy’s first African American officers, The Golden Thirteen. His 2021 book Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr. also received acclaim. He lives in Arnold, Maryland.
