Naval War College Review Volume 62 Article 15 Number 1 Winter
2009 Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command Tom Fedyszyn
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Recommended Citation Fedyszyn, Tom (2009) "Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command," Naval War College Review: Vol. 62 : No. 1 , Article 15. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol62/iss1/15
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150 NAVAL WARFedyszyn: COLLEGE Destroyer REVIEW Captain: Lessons of a First Command
professional military education on this Stavridis does not purport to tell new topic. The editors are to be destroyer skippers that there is one cor- commended. rect way to succeed at their job, but he has tried to keep to the basics. The JONATHAN WINKLER Wright State University “ends” are mandated: the ship should Dayton, Ohio be ready for war. The “means” is where a captain’s personality turns seemingly identical structures into radically differ- ent habitats. Stavridis adheres to sim- plicity. Serve good food. Walk around. Stavridis, James. Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a Have a plan. Smile. First Command. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Stavridis, currently the regional com- Press, 2008. 224pp. $22.95 batant commander of Southern Com- The politically correct aspiration for all mand, was the second skipper of Barry. surface warfare officers is to attain to His predecessor, today Admiral Gary command at sea. Realistically, these of- Roughead, is the Chief of Naval ficers cannot begin to comprehend all Operations. its ramifications, but they viscerally A particularly poignant piece is his ac- know it is the Holy Grail. Reading Ad- count of the tragic death of Admiral Jay miral Jim Stavridis’s Destroyer Captain Prout, a friend and mentor and always is about as close as these officers will an ebullient companion. Prout had a come to enjoying the ride until they ac- trademark of passing to friends en route tually receive their orders to command. to command a paperback about the ex- It is our great fortune that then- ploits of a Royal Navy destroyer skipper commander Stavridis scrupulously kept who had three ships shot out from un- a journal during his days aboard USS der him during the Second World War. Barry (DDG 52) (1993–95) and has of- He called that book motivation for a fered to share his experiences with us. successful command. We can place De- James Stavridis is prolific on this sub- stroyer Captain onthesamelist. ject, having written extensively on life at TOM FEDYSZYN sea for the naval professional. Such ear- Naval War College lier works as Watch Officer’s Guide (edi- tor, 1999) and Command at Sea (with William Mack, 1999) now serve as text- books. Destroyer Captain, however, is designed to be a good read for anyone Cliff, Roger, et al. Entering the Dragon’s Lair: Chi- fascinated with what life is like behind nese Antiaccess Strategies and Their Implications the doors of the captain’s cabin. Fortu- for the United States. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, nately, Stavridis is a writer who is not 2007. 154pp. $27.50 only good with the small details of daily This study has already attracted wide- life but shares a sense of history and spread attention from the policy com- aweofthesea.Simply,heisinlovewith munity and media, for good reason. command at sea, and you feel it The U.S. military appears poised to face throughout the entire book. challenges to its ability to maintain ac- cess to a variety of regional littoral
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