"October Fury" ON TOPIC

I finished the book last night. A good read.

I caught what I thought were a few major errors when he was discussing some
of the equipment and tactics, but then wondered if he was not engaging in
either "misinformation" or maybe the items in question are still classified
and he was doing a "work around." None were particularly relevant to the
story, so it's not a "Big Deal."

It was particularly interesting that the Russian COs were able to use
sloppy, American RT proceedure to their advantage. We were taught that this
was so, but it's nice to see confirmation.

Regarding the NUKES, I was unaware of the revocation of nuclear weapons use
authority to the shore units. No such order was given to the subs and at
least one of them flooded tubes and was working a firing solution on
non-special torpedos. One wonders what might have happened if an over-eager
TM or weapons officer "goofed" (a la "The Beford Incident").

All in all, I highly recommend the book as a pretty accurate look at
integrated ASW ops during the '60s.

On a personal note, I did my 1c Midshipman Cruise on board BLANDY in the
Summer of '67. It was a "good deal" as the Captain enouraged the middies
standing JOOD to perform like real officers, including some time conning the
ship on station (under, of course, some rather close supervision). I was
lucky and stood watch with a pretty laid back LT who allowed my to make some
mistakes. :-) My running mate drew a Black Bean and stood with a REAL
"sweater."

It was a good ship and the Wardroom was pretty friendly. Still, the overall
"suffiness" made me more convinced than ever that I really did not want to
be 'Shoe. :-)

Bill Kambic

Mangalarga Marchador: Uma raça, uma paixão