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Members of the Institute may save money by ordering books through its Book Department, which will suppb' any obtainable book. A discount of 10 per cent is allowed on books published by the Institute, and 5 per cent on books of other publishers (government publications excepted). Address Secretary-Treasurer, U.S.Naval Institute. Annapolis, Maryland.
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE IRONCLAD WARSHIP. By James Phinney Baxter, 3d, Associate Professor of History Harvard University. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1933. $5.00.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander W. E. Doyle, U. S. Navy
The research and study upon which this book is based are most exhaustive, painstaking, and thorough. I do not wonder that Professor Baxter took ten years to write it. The labor involved must have been tremendous. He has gone straight to original sources for his documents; has taken his data from the old manuscripts on file in the naval archives of the principal maritime nations of the world. Notes are copiously sprinkled about, referring the reader specifically to the authoritative sources from which he has secured his information. He is most obviously fair and unbiased. His findings in the realm of cold facts, simply cannot be disputed.
The main reaction I got from reading the book was a strong conviction that an authoritative reference work has appeared among us, beyond which there can be no appeal on any and all questions of fact in connection with the introduction of ironclad warships into the navies of the world.
The coup de grace is effectually administered throughout the 300-odd pages, to the languishing myth of our school days, that we of the good old U.S.A. invented the first ironclad; that a stunned and gaping world awoke one morning in March. 1862, to find that the clever and astute Yankees had at one bold stroke rendered all their wooden navies obsolete. The cold truth of the matter, as summed up in the words of Professor Baxter, seems to be somewhat as follows:
When the news of the battle of Hampton Roads crossed the Atlantic, more than forty seagoing ironclads, thirty armored coast-defense vessels, and eighteen partially protected gunboats, were already built, building, or authorized in Europe-
And the facts amassed in his book might well have justified him in adding that almost anyone of the completed seagoing ironclads in Europe was capable of taking on both the Monitor and the Merrimac and knocking them off with ease and dispatch.
Of course, I first became suspicious of the schoolbook version of the international importance of that famous battle a long time ago. But up to now I have always managed to evade and avoid the positive proof that the dear old history books lied to me. It’s really too bad. It was a fine story. First thing I know, some scholar will be casting out hints that it was an °hscure Limey who actually invented the safety razor and the toothbrush.
One feature of the book which pleased particularly is the fact that the author handles his subject in strictly professional terms and phraseology. No meandering about among vague, half-landlubber words and phrases. In fact, I frequently wondered if the author werenot formerly a naval °fficer. I would like to hear that he was.
Since Professor Baxter has turned out such a fine piece of work (“monumental” Is the adjective I suspect more nearly fits lt)) I am loathe to snap at his heels with earping criticism of his style or the manner 111 which he presents the results of his Prodigious researches. The facts have been eollected and put down without apparent effort to make them tell a story in narrate form or even in chronological order. \n consequence the book seems heavy at times, almost dull. But, nevertheless, it is Well worth reading. It should be read a Second time, more slowly and carefully than the first, and then placed on your bookshelf as a ready reference in connection with your future reading of comparatively modern naval history.
BROWN’S SIGNALLING. By W. K. Stewart. Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, Ltd. 1933. 3s. 6d.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander B. L. Meadows, U. S. Navy
While perhaps designed primarily for t|ie candidate preparing for a (British) °ard of Trade Certificate, this little b°ok is of real value to the merchant °fficer, aviator, and naval officer.
The 1931 International Code of Signals which goes into effect on January 1, 1934, contains a number of revolutionary changes, s°nie of interest among them being (a) the eiimination of alphabet pennants and the substitution of flags for the five letters in- v°lved; (b) introduction of ten numeral pennants; (c) introduction of three repeaters called “substitute flags.”
Most of the changes tend towards the naval form, but with important differences. In the naval form, for example, the first repeater repeats the flag or pennant (other than a special meaning pennant) next above it, the second repeater repeats the second flag above, thus working upwards. In the International Code the first “substitute” flag repeats the first or top flag in that hoist, the second substitute the second flag in the hoist, thus working downward. Significant of the logic of the International Code system in this respect is the fact that beginners in signals will invariably interpret repeaters as repeating downward until taught the opposite.
Since the design of the numeral pennants follows no apparent system, they will probably be difficult to remember. One comforting discovery for the distressed signalman in seeking easy aids to memory is the fact that numerals one to five are the old alphabet pennants “easy” to “george” in natural order, six is our three, seven is our one inverted, and zero our eight.
The new code is also a new system, and while relatively simple, naval signalmen will need more background knowledge than has been heretofore required for handling the International Code intelligently and rapidly.
Brown’s Signalling meets that need admirably, for it is well worded, and as concise as is consistent with the inclusion of sufficient examples and code extracts to properly illustrate the text.
The after portion of the book contains a hodgepodge of more or less extraneous matter of the type we find on the backs of our pilot charts, etc. Some of these articles and scraps of information, such as “Bell Time on Shipboard,” “Damage to Drift Nets,” “Buoys and Beacons,” “Wind,” “Beaufort’s Scale,” “International Rules for Preventing Collisions at Sea,” etc., seem entirely out of place and lend somewhat the air of a “crammer’s guide” to an otherwise excellent book.
BROWN’S RULE OF THE ROAD MANUAL. By W. K. Stewart, Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, Ltd. 1933. 2s.6d.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander P. L. Meadows, U. S. Navy In form and subject matter the seventh edition of Brown’s Rule of the Road Manual is scarcely distinguishable from its predecessor. This is as it should be, for it is hard to conceive of a more compactly and skillfully arranged little book, and radical changes in the presentation of its subject matter appear undesirable. Considerable additional matter, pertaining mostly to local piloting in British waters is included in the new edition.
The rules as given in Brown’s Manual contain for the American reader a mild shock, for certain of the rules with which he is probably most familiar contain some strange, and to him, totally unorthodox clauses. This is because Brown’s Manual is evidently based on the International Conference of Safety of Life at Sea, 1929, signed at London on May 31, 1929. It has not yet been ratified by the United States, and consequently the amended rules do not apply to vessels of the United States. Flowever, the lack of any warning to that effect in the preface is likely to cause the American reader no small amount of wonderment until he can ascertain the facts.
The more important of the changes found are briefly:
(1) Carrying of two range lights made mandatory for all vessels of ISO feet in length or greater.
(2) Flare-up lights of pilot vessels to be exhibited at intervals of ten minutes or less, instead of fifteen minutes or less, as heretofore.
(3) Carrying of a 12-point stern light when under way made mandatory for all except small vessels.
(4) A vessel of more than 350 feet in length, when at anchor in fog, sounds, in addition to her bell, strokes on a gong in the after-part of the vessel.
(5) A vessel aground in or near a fairway sounds, in addition to the signal mentioned under (4), three strokes on the bell immediately preceding and following that signal.
(6) A vessel being towed sounds on her foghorn one prolonged blast followed by three short blasts at the proper interval.
After presenting the complete rules, the Manual then follows with an excellent summary of all sound signals. Next, and probably the most valuable text in the book, is a long chapter consisting entirely of questions on the rules, and fortunately the answers, for a number of points not covered directly by the rules are brought up and discussed.
A considerable section of the book is devoted to determination of headings of vessels from observation of their lights at night and to case diagrams. These are probably valuable to the officer brought up on points and quarter points, but to one who visualizes the compass card in degrees and makes his mental solutions in degrees, this portion of the text is largely a loss, although the diagrams are of some service.
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