A Sailor's Story
by Allan P. Slaff
“The pursuit of excellence is man’s noblest endeavor, and its attainment is man’s noblest achievement.
Looking back over my long life, both in and out of the service, I must humbly confess that I have fallen off the trolley more times than I would have liked. I can truthfully say, however, I did my level best.
But judge for yourself, as you read my account of an incredibly exciting and rewarding life, which I have endeavored to chronicle with both sensitivity and accuracy.”
—from the author's Preface"Exhausted after rolling and pitching for days on end, standing on the bridge without respite, cold and wet with little or no sleep, frustrated by communications difficulties and engineering casualties—I’d sometimes ask myself, ‘What the hell are you doing here?'
But when the weather clears and the ship is squared away—with her paintwork perfect and her brightwork gleaming in the sun—and she is steaming into a foreign port with her ship’s company arrayed in perfect ranks, and the ship’s band is playing ‘Stars and Stripes Forever,’ and you look up at our great national ensign flying from the peak, and you are in command of the mightiest guided missile cruiser in the world and thousands of people are lining the banks watching you steam up the channel, and you know your ship is a tangible and powerful representative of your country—I wouldn’t swap that thrill of command for any job in the world! It’s an honor and a feeling of pride that only a few men are privileged to experience.”
—from the Epilogue
About the Author
grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1944, and served on board the fast battleship Massachusetts, which participated in many of the great battles of the Pacific War as a unit of the famed Fast Carrier Task Force. After the war, he served in many of the combatant ships of the Atlantic Fleet, including the light cruiser Houston, the destroyer Holder and the destroyer Hazelwood. He commanded the destroyer escort Lester, the fleet destroyer Davis, the guided missile destroyer leader Luce and the heavy guided missile cruiser Albany.
He served a tour on the staff of Commander Cruiser Division Twelve, as aide and flag secretary to Commander Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet and as personal aide to the famed Admiral Arleigh Burke when he was Chief of Naval Operations. He also served in the immediate office of Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze.
He holds 22 personal decorations, unit commendations and campaign medals, including the Legion of Merit with a V for valor, a Bronze Star, the Vietnamese National Order of Vietnam, which was the highest decoration for service in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, the U.S. Naval War College and the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.
He served for ten years as a dean and member of the faculty of the Harvard Business School and as a consultant to the school for an additional three years. He has also been chairman of two small but highly successful corporations.
Captain Slaff has authored numerous magazine articles about the Navy and the sea.
240 pp, Hardcover
ISBN 0-9636413-9-5 / Price $21.95
46 Photographs
OUT OF PRINT
