Naval War College Review Volume 69 Article 16 Number 3 Summer

2016 Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, by P. W. Singer and August Cole Connie Frizzell

Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review

Recommended Citation Frizzell, Connie (2016) "Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, by P. W. Singer and August Cole," Naval War College Review: Vol. 69 : No. 3 , Article 16. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol69/iss3/16

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Frizzell: Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, by P. W. Singer and A BOOK REVIEWS 159

a six-hundred-man JSOC intelligence known to be false. It is the job of the brigade added in late 2008. JSOC de- author to maintain that world, to hold manded and received a disproportionate the reader suspended throughout the share of assets, including taking control entire book, and to prevent him or of other military units not only when her from falling out of the fictional necessary but when convenient—to the world with an ungraceful “whump.” dismay of commanders also charged For the author of a techno-thriller, with fighting the war. But JSOC did holding the reader suspended in this kill Zarqawi and Bin Laden and many, alternate reality requires even more many other very bad people. Leaders in finesse than for other types of fic- Washington declared, “JSOC is awe- tion. The world of a techno-thriller is some.” Our enemies needed killing, and relatively close to the world in which the no military unit did it better than JSOC. reader lives. Both the technology and Naylor tells us that before 9/11 several the environment of the story are set in a key figures described JSOC as “a Fer- future near enough that all the govern- rari in the garage.” General McChrys- mental and organizational structures, tal, with the full support of leaders in global and domestic relationships, and Washington, took the Ferrari out of the technical capabilities showcased in the garage and created a killing machine story must be close enough to what the whose performance was unparalleled. reader knows today to be believable. Unfortunately, a discerning reader This is the challenge P. W. Singer and easily could conclude that the Fer- August Cole set for themselves in Ghost rari actually was still on the same road Fleet. It is a herculean task. The inter- as the rest of the U.S. military—and national backdrop today is far different that road would lead to nowhere. from that of the techno-thriller heyday HY S. ROTHSTEIN of the 1980s and early 1990s. The U.S. cultural setting of Red Storm Rising, published in 1986, was influenced by forty years of the Cold War. Dominated by baby boomers and gen Xers, the Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, by P. general population of the United States W. Singer and August Cole. New York: Houghton during that time had limited access to Mifflin, 2015. 416 pages. $28 (paperback $14.95, international news and perspectives, Kindle $9.99). had grown up with the threat of nuclear No author today will argue with Samuel war, and had been indoctrinated with Taylor Coleridge’s perspective that any the ideological vilification of Com- work of fiction requires the reader munism. Today the cultural backdrop to engage in a willing suspension of for the U.S. population is as mixed disbelief. The wording of the concept and varied as the people themselves. is important because it goes beyond International news and perspectives are the idea of a reader just pushing the “I available to anyone, quite literally at the believe” button. The concept requires touch of a finger; the threat of nuclear the reader to be an active participant: war has been replaced with a threat of he or she must willingly enter a world terrorism; and ideological vilification

Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2016 1

NWC_Summer2016Review.indb 159 6/8/16 3:58 PM 160 NAVAL WAR COLLEGENaval REVIEW War College Review, Vol. 69 [2016], No. 3, Art. 16

revolves around extremist religious characters act exactly as their stereo- groups rather than nation-states. types suggest they should—and the This techno-thriller, then, with its results of their actions are predictable. hegemonic China overtaking the United The strongest element of the book is States, feels slightly unbalanced, as if it the technologies the authors choose to is not settled on a firm foundation. It include. While the overuse of nomen- was only during the last decade that a clature feels clunky for all but those majority of Americans came to consider who collect technical classifications China a player on the international like Boy Scout badges, the authors do stage, and those Americans who view not reach too far into the realm of sci- China as a threat (with the exception of ence fiction to build their arsenal of the U.S. Navy, perhaps) represent both weapons, chemicals, and drugs. There a smaller percentage and an even newer is enough linkage to existing technolo- phenomenon. In fact, the American gies and medical trends to make the perspective of our relationship with future employment of these more- China over the past ten years probably advanced programs feel realistic. Even can be described best as bipolar, or so, they all fit into a too-predictable, maybe schizophrenic; but historically no-surprise-here mold. There are even China has not been considered existen- a few moments when the story feels like tially threatening, and still is not com- a propaganda piece for the Navy’s exist- monly considered so today. Whump. ing Zumwalt-class destroyer or railgun That means the story Pete Singer and programs. Whump, and whump again. August Cole create has to be strong All of which raises the question, who is enough to overcome each cultural the audience P. W. Singer and August inconsistency that unceremoniously Cole are trying to reach? If it is the dumps us out of our suspended disbelief. military, we do not need to read four Unfortunately, the one-dimensional and hundred pages to tell us what we already stereotyped portrayal of the military know. China’s versions of the concepts of family in the story is representative of antiaccess/area-denial and air-sea battle the rest of the characters in the book. have brought plenty of visibility to the Whump. China’s “Directorate” is a future risk China represents, even for calculating, unfeeling behemoth. The those who have not been watching the Russian character is a vodka-swilling Pacific for years. If the book is intended spy. The insurgent is a femme fatale. for a civilian population that no longer Whump, whump, whump. It may be shares the common cultural backdrop an editor’s dream to have characters do that existed during the Cold War, it exactly what we presume they would feels like just another fearmongering do, but as a story line it does not carry piece written by another advocate for a enough of a thrill to make the reader bigger defense budget. If it is a plea for want to stay engaged. Rather than the administration to sit up and take incorporating strong, motivating factors notice of China as a threat, it does not (including irrational ones) that would do a good enough job of explaining why make erratic actions plausible and add all the elements of U.S. national power interest and depth to the story, the supposedly are completely defunct.

https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol69/iss3/16 2

NWC_Summer2016Review.indb 160 6/8/16 3:58 PM Frizzell: Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, by P. W. Singer and A BOOK REVIEWS 161

Perhaps all of this is what makes the the case of the First World War at sea, a book unique, though. While the plot fol- thankless one too, when compared with lows the typical path of a techno-thriller, the far better known and better reported where an aggressive move by a “bad guy” situation on land. This notwithstanding, forces a “good guy” to join in a fight of it is hard to imagine a more timely and epic proportions, the discomfort the well-balanced book. David Stevens, as reader feels at the end is real, despite the Royal Australian Navy’s historian, all the fully anticipated and stereotyped was perhaps in a perfect position to take characters, plots, and technologies. on this project, but this should in no But that is not so much thrilling as it is way diminish what he has achieved. His troubling. The disturbing question that extensive and far-reaching research has lurks in the background and perme- produced a work that, while entertain- ates the plot like an insidious, deadly ing and readable, has sufficient gravitas gas is, how effective is the United States to ensure it will become the defini- when it comes to using the diplomatic tive work on the subject. This title will and informational elements of national appeal to all audiences; historians will power in the international arena? This revel in the wealth of archival material might have been the true heart of the and private diaries, but this book is far story. Surrounded by layers of protective more appealing than a mere record of muscle in military might and economic historical fact. Anyone who has been to strength, have the diplomatic and in- sea and experienced life on board ship, formational elements of U.S. national in particular a warship, will appreciate power aged and atrophied beyond the the insights from someone so obviously size of the body they inhabit? Without well versed in this area. Drawing heav- the diplomatic and informational ele- ily on his own seagoing background, ments, can the government still oper- Stevens presents an engaging narrative ate on just the military and economic that gets to the very heart of the unique elements? The idea is unexplored, but human experience that is life at sea. Ghost Fleet, with a plot that takes Lady In many ways, then, this book represents Liberty’s sword and purse away right the best of both possible approaches from the start, leaves readers suspended to a history of this type: the broad and in a disbelief completely different from analytical, which sweeps over the major the one they thought they were entering. maritime events of the time, giving the work its much-needed context; CONNIE FRIZZELL and the intensely personal, employ- ing many passages from diaries, letters, and reports that together illustrate the rich variety of naval life from the deck plates to the wardroom. To this end, In All Respects Ready: Australia’s Navy in World each chapter ends with a short biog- War One, by David Stevens. Melbourne, Austral.: Oxford Univ. Press, 2014. 320 pages. $59.95. raphy of an important or interesting figure from the preceding pages, which Writing a definitive history of any major both enriches and helps to consolidate conflict from a single nation’s perspec- this comprehensive coverage. The book tive can be an exacting task—and, in also triumphs in another aspect: by not

Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2016 3

NWC_Summer2016Review.indb 161 6/8/16 3:58 PM