Naval War College Review Volume 68 Article 14 Number 4 Autumn 2015 Inside Reagan’s Navy: The eP ntagon Journals Carnes Lord Chase Untermeyer Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Lord, Carnes and Untermeyer, Chase (2015) "Inside Reagan’s Navy: The eP ntagon Journals," Naval War College Review: Vol. 68 : No. 4 , Article 14. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol68/iss4/14 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]. Lord and Untermeyer: Inside Reagan’s Navy: The Pentagon Journals BOOK REVIEWS 119 Bismarck on 27 May after a lucky aerial famous and most important naval battles torpedo hit disabled the ship’s steering of World War II” will raise the hackles mechanism� Not so Robert Winklareth� especially of historians of the U�S� Navy His focus instead is on Bismarck’s “sin- in the Pacific 1941–45� And his sec- gular triumph” in destroying the British ond claim, that the encounter between battle cruiser Hood three days earlier� Bismarck and Hood “is perhaps the most A 38 cm shell from its fifth salvo sliced documented event in naval history,” through Hood’s armored side below will come as news to German naval the aft turrets, setting off first the 4 in� historians who are all too aware of the secondary armament magazine and fact that Bismarck’s war diary (Kriegs- then the main 15 in� magazine� Only 3 tagebuch) went down with the ship� of its complement of 1,421 survived� With regard to the broader aspects of the So, what is new? Winklareth, a mili- battle of the Denmark Strait, Winklareth tary weapons systems expert, traces all spends a great deal of time sketching action at sea in five-second intervals� out the past histories of the German and He primarily uses translated German British navies as well as the major ship records of the battle of the Denmark designs of the two powers� The ac- Strait to offer a salvo-by-salvo analysis, tual artillery duel between the German to re-create the speed and headings of battleship and the British battle cruiser, the major combatants, and to determine in fact, consumes but half a dozen pages the precise firing angles and effects of of chapter 13� Unfortunately, there is the heavy guns� Unsurprisingly, the book no attempt to place “Operation Rhein- is highly detailed and a feast mainly for übung,” the German sortie into the naval engineering and gunnery enthu- Atlantic, into the wider context of Grand siasts� It is complemented by count- Admiral Erich Raeder’s double-pole less charts, diagrams, photographs, strategy of attacking Britain’s maritime and pencil drawings (by the author)� commerce with two modern battle Winklareth’s own battle is with the fleets in the Atlantic Ocean, while a (unnamed) historians who claim that third fleet of elderly battleships tied just before the engagement with Hood, the Royal Navy down in the North Sea� Bismarck, in a mere six minutes, came The reader deserved this analysis� up the port side of the heavy cruiser HOLGER H� HERWIG Prinz Eugen, crossed its wake to its starboard side, and then recrossed the cruiser’s wake to take up position on its port side again (15–16, 258)� What he calls a “reversed photo” error resulted Untermeyer, Chase� Inside Reagan’s Navy: The in this assumption� Few will cross Pentagon Journals. College Station: Texas A&M swords with the author on this matter� Univ� Press, 2015� 352pp� $25 On the other hand, serious historians The Washington diary is something of a of the battle will take umbrage at two lost art these days� Instead, we have to be of Winklareth’s strong statements, both satisfied with books of instant journal- on the first page (11) of the book� His ism using largely anonymous sources or claim that the battle of the Denmark memoirs too often tendentiously crafted Strait “was undoubtedly one of the most after the fact� Chase Untermeyer is a Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2015 1 NWC_Autumn2015Reivew.indb 119 8/13/15 3:06 PM 120 NAVAL WAR COLLEGENaval REVIEW War College Review, Vol. 68 [2015], No. 4, Art. 14 wonderful outlier� Apparently, Unter- And what a boss! To get the flavor of meyer started keeping a diary at age John Lehman, it is hard to improve on nine, and has already published excerpts this riff of Untermeyer’s at Lehman’s covering his initial Washington service farewell party at the Naval Observatory as executive assistant to Vice President in April 1987: “People have asked me, George Bush (1981–83)� This latest what’s the difference between Jim Webb volume covers the period of his service and John Lehman? And I’ve said that the in the office of the Secretary of the thing to remember is that Jim is a former Navy (1983–88), during the tenures of Marine officer� Tell him to take a hill, John F� Lehman and later James Webb and he’ll take the hill� But with John it’s as Secretary of the Navy� The result a little different� Tell him to take a hill, is an engaging portrait of the glories and the first thing he’ll do is get together and miseries of life within the Beltway� with Mel Paisley [perhaps best described Though lighthearted and refreshingly as his consigliere] for a few drinks to modest, Untermeyer’s book also offers concoct the plan� � � � Then John will up telling anecdotes and keen insights start a competition among real estate into the practice—or lack thereof—of agents over the purchase price of the civilian control of the United States Navy hill� Next he’ll go to the senator in whose at a critical juncture of the Cold War� state the hill is located and make a deal: Though he had served briefly in the the Navy will build the chrome bumper- Navy as a very junior officer, Unter- guard assembly for the Trident sub in meyer was the classic political appointee� his hometown if the senator will slip an Born in Texas and educated at Harvard, amendment into the Wild and Scenic he became involved in Texas politics and Areas Act to purchase the hill� Then, was elected to the statehouse in 1976� with the money saved from the competi- After his stint working directly under tion, John buys another Aegis cruiser�” the vice president, Untermeyer was Lehman’s methods did not appeal to appointed initially as Deputy Assistant everyone, and in fact could be outra- Secretary of the Navy for Installations geous; but he could claim results� He and Facilities, and then for some four nearly achieved the “600 ship Navy” years served as Assistant Secretary for for which he lobbied so ferociously� But Manpower and Reserve Affairs� Both the Navy leadership was ambivalent jobs are political plums, offering many toward him� He had a habit of break- opportunities for ingratiation of the ing Navy crockery—for example, by holder with defense contractors and forcing the Naval Academy to put more members of Congress� Untermeyer humanities in its curriculum, and by makes no attempt to hide his own am- engineering the retirement of Admiral bitions, or the intoxicating effects of Hyman Rickover (the story of Rickover’s constant mingling with the good and tantrum in his departing courtesy call the great not only in Washington but on with Ronald Reagan is told with great many tours of inspection or protocol in relish at the beginning of Lehman’s the provinces� (At one point, he charm- memoir Command of the Sea)� Anyone ingly announces that he has at last be- concerned about the current state of come a “toff”)� But he also makes clear civil-military relations in Washington that he took his responsibilities seriously would do well to read this book� and was intent on serving the boss well� CARNES LORD https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol68/iss4/14 2 NWC_Autumn2015Reivew.indb 120 8/13/15 3:06 PM.