Customer Reviews

The Naval Officer's Guide Eleventh Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a former navy officer and writer on navy themes I treasure my copy of The Naval Officer's Guide. It is a handy, up-to-date reference that authoritatively addresses vital aspects of leadership and knowledge in the sea service--even to a glossary of slang expressions and a primer on military law. An excellent research source for anyone interested in the way the real navy operates. Should be in every junior officer's pocket. The new material by Commander McComas is particularly valuable and builds on an impressive compendium of naval facts.

The book is well-written, easy to follow, and up-to-date. True to its name, this book is a great guide for any current or future officer in the US Navy and does not stray from its intended purpose, which includes providing guidance on customs and courtesies, pay and allowances, duties and responsibilities, and other key subjects relevant to Naval officers. I would give the book five stars if it was a bit thicker and more inclusive (like officer guides from other branches), but this guide is an excellent source of information on important subjects and provides references to other sources of information.

Years ago, just prior to my commissioning, I picked up Division Officer's Guide- Eleventh Edition and Watch Officer's Guide: A Handbook for All Deck Watch Officers - Fifteenth Edition and looked at getting this book too. I was disappointed by its focus on administration. Now many would argue that is the role of a junior officer in the USN, that of a manager. However, I still think leadership is more than filling out the correct form properly. The Naval Officer's Guide disagrees and its entirety is almost fully taken up with how to locate and fill out the correct NAVSUP, PMS or JAG form. Most of that info is redundant, outdated or useless because your ships' CO standing orders or CLASSRON SOPs will be more specific and slightly different anyhow. At the time I purchased Marine Officer's Guide (Blue Jacket Bks) which covered both leadership and how to navigate the various government resources out there for officers. Many years later, as the senior watch officer and an experience officer, I looked the Naval Officer's Guide again, thinking I may have given it short shrift back in my inexperienced ensign days. Nope, it was even less useful and more administratively focused than I remembered. So, I picked up a copy of Command at Sea for some more seasoned advice as a senior officer and bought a copy of ROYAL NAVY OFFICER'S POCKET-BOOK 1944, THE for a slightly different, but very useful perspective on how to run a ship and lay down standing orders.

In short, JOs or cadets, I'm sorry but the Naval Institute Press has let you down. Please buy another service's officer guide and do the best you can. The Watch and Division Officer Guide are brilliant and I still use my WO guide now as senior WO. Senior officers, there's nothing for you here either. Skip this book and pick up Command at Sea and the RN's offering.

Sail Safe.

As an aspiring Naval Officer I found this book to be just what I needed to help me find out more about protocol.

I am new to the Navy, and this is a great reference. Reading this book has definitely calmed my nerves about going to OCS. Things like how formal events and ceremonies work to the expectations of officers with enlisted men and women. I will definitely bring this everywhere I go in the Navy, because as I said, it is a GREAT reference!

The book is excellent. It takes you step by step starting with the most basic information (mission / strategies). Any person applying for OCS should buy this book.

This is a well written easy to fallow and suitable for everybody. To understand todays US strategy around world I think one must achieve the meaning of a worldwide navy. It is needs to much power to have that much ship all over the world and this book is especially important to understand the common mood of navy officers and their conditions.

A very dry read, but like I said it is NEED TO KNOW INFO if you are going to try to be a Officer in the US Navy.

I am not currently a member of the United States Navy, but I do aspire to be one of these days. I want to go to Officer Candidate School, earn my commission, and hopefully embark upon a prosperous Naval career. Of course, I know very little of what is involved in being a Naval officer beyond what I am able to glean from conversations with friends and colleagues who are current or past Naval officers. That is why "The Naval Officer's Guide" is so valuable. It gives a breakdown of all aspects of the life of a Naval officer. It deals with areas like training, promotions, Naval customs, and common job responsibilities, to name a few. That is just the tip of the iceberg, though. There is so much more in this guide that it becomes an indispensable manual for those who wish to learn about what it means to be an officer, as well as being a valuable reference piece for those who are already serving. As I read through this guide, I found myself developing a greater understanding of the Navy and finding myself able to visualize serving as an officer. There can be no greater endorsement of literature like this.

I started getting suspicious when my niece got in the car with me. She said, "Do you want me to dog the hatch, Uncle Ed?" "No," I said, "just lock the door." "That's what I asked," she added sternly. A queasy feeling started going through my intestines. "Do I make a left turn here?" I asked. She looked at me and barked, "Left standard rudder, indicate 109 turns for 30 knots, steady up on course 180!" I made the left turn facing south before I pulled over, and looked at her feeling cross, unhappy, and fearful of what I was about to hear. "You're holding back something," I said. "Uncle Ed," she started with trepidation, "I had an interview for the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps in Norfolk, VA this week." My world came crashing down as I heard the word navy. My youngest niece who had always made me proud, graduating summa cum laude from high school, and with honors from a prestigious New York university, making Law Review and getting published, was going to rip open her uncle's heart and consider joining the navy.

I don't know how we got back, but I took to my bed unconsolable for weeks. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I lost weight. I was stricken with grief at what she was contemplating. I blamed myself, and her mother. How could she do this to the family? Did I ever deserve such a slap in the face? The thought of her going to officers' training in Rhode Island, or wherever the hell the place is, gave me migraine. I passed out at the thought of her cheering for navy during the ARMY/navy game.

As I began to recover, I told myself that it was not her fault. I should forgive her. I did so by buying her the Navy Officer's Guide shown here, and made peace with myself--up to a point. (I told friends that she decided to go work in a leper colony in Myanmar).

It is not as good as an Army Officer's Guide, and it was started long, long after the Army began making them available to their officers, but it was a great copy nonetheless. (They probably copied theirs from the Army too). It contains all the customs, traditions, billets, and information any person needs to know if they want to know anything about swabbies or barnacle scrapers, even their silly lingo: "Bulkheads" instead of walls; "Deck" instead of floor," "Portside" instead of Left; "Gangway" instead of "Makeway;" "Hand salute!" instead of "Present arms!" It's the "head" instead of "latrine," and so on, and so forth. So, now she can learn the ranks, rates, and chevrons all on her own, without stabbing me in the heart by asking me to explain them to her.

This book gives the potential Navy officer things he or she needs to know, that its predecessors didn't. The "Blue Jackets Manual" was for enlisted. The "Division Officer's Guide" was for officers, but it too was limited to being on board ships, and the "Naval Aviator's Guide," while thorough was limited to, d'uh, aviation.

I wished Micky good luck and happy birthday, and to show her how calm I was about her decision, I gently reminded her that the ARMY is still the senior service.

Anchors Aweigh!

Addendum to this review. The more I looked at it, the more I was disappointed with it. It has no color photos to speak of. The badges are in black and white. That's a distinction in the navy e.g. Twin dolfins signify submariners. Gold for officers and silver for enlisted. The clarity of the badges is not that good. The Army Officer's Guide (I own three), has brilliant color for the ribbons, awards, flashes, patches and badges. The Army Officer's Guide is far more in depth. This guide really bilged.