Troubled Water: Race, Mutiny, and Bravery on the USS Kitty Hawk [Hardcover]

Gregory Freeman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0230613616 | ISBN-13: 978-0230613614 | Publication Date: September 15, 2009

In 1972, the United States was embroiled in an unpopular war in Vietnam, and the USS Kitty Hawk was headed to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin. Its five thousand men, cooped up for the longest at-sea tour of the war, rioted--or, as Troubled Water suggests, mutinied. Disturbingly, the lines were drawn racially, black against white. By the time order was restored, careers were in tatters. Although the incident became a turning point for race relations in the Navy, this story remained buried within U.S. Navy archives for decades.

With action pulled straight from a high seas thriller, Gregory A. Freeman uses eyewitness accounts and a careful and unprecedented examination of the navy's records to refute the official story of the incident, make a convincing case for the U.S. navy's first mutiny, and shed new light on this seminal event in American history.

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Troubled Water:

 

“Even though the U.S. government continues to deny it, Gregory Freeman has dug out the true hidden story of the first mutiny in the history of the U.S. Navy. You’ll enjoy this high seas thriller.”—James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers, Flyboys, and The Imperial Cruise

 

"This is a real nail-biter, a genuine page-turner. Just when you thought you had heard everything about carrier operations during the Vietnam War, here is the story of the mutiny that the US Navy didn't want you to know about. Page, by agonizing page, you are below deck as everything unravels and everything you thought you knew proves to be wrong. It's always exciting to read a book that provides new or overlooked information about events you thought were set in stone within the historical record, but in Troubled Water, Gregory Freeman not only tells you about it, he takes you there -- aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, as mutineers gradually alter the course of an American warship from measured precision to chaos and anarchy."-- Bill Yenne, Author of Aces High, the Heroic Saga of the Two Top-Scoring American Aces of WWII. and Rising Sons: The Japanese-American GIs Who Fought for the US in WWII

 

"Gregory Freeman is a master of riveting and thoughtful examinations of military sagas that no one else has the courage to take on. Troubled Water is his finest book in a distinguished career."     --Gregg Olsen, author of Heart of Ice and A Wicked Snow

 

Praise for Gregory A. Freeman's previous works:

 

Sailors to the End:

 

"A doozy of a story."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

"[A] thorough, absorbing account."--Library Journal

 

 “An excellent book... Freeman does an admirable job of relating this story that has been untold for too long.”--The Springfield (IL) State Journal-Register (Sailors to the End)

 

The Forgotten 500:

 

“Exciting…breathtaking.”--Booklist

“Fascinating…full of romance, action, and adventure…told with skill and grace.”--America in WWII

 

About the Author

Gregory A. Freeman is an award-winning writer with more than 25 years experience in journalism and historical nonfiction. He has won over two dozen awards for his writing, including the coveted Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists. His books include The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of The Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II, Lay This Body Down: The 1921 Murders of Eleven Plantation Slaves, and the acclaimed Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought it. He lives in Roswell, Georgia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (September 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230613616
• ISBN-13: 978-0230613614
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #572,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gregory A. Freeman is an award-winning writer with more than 25 years experience in journalism and narrative nonfiction. Known for writing books that make a true story read like a gripping, fast paced novel, Freeman is quickly becoming one of the most respected and successful authors in the field of narrative nonfiction.

Two of Freeman's books are far along in development for major movies, and there is considerable interest in Hollywood for his other works. One of Freeman's greatest talents is his ability to write a true story with great cinematic style, a dramatic narrative that makes the book a compelling page turner and easily translates to the big screen.

Freeman's books are scrupulously researched and entirely factual, yet they read more like novels because he weaves the "stranger than fiction" personal stories of his subjects into a compelling narrative. Each project requires intensive research - getting to know the subjects personally and probing for previously undisclosed documents. Freeman also explores the subject matter himself, whether that means flying onto the deck of an aircraft carrier at sea or gaining access to the most restricted parts of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison. But the most important parts of the books are the often intensely personal, emotional interviews with the men and women who were there. Their personal stories make up the heart of Freeman's work, the part that most connects with the reader.

In addition to his books, Freeman writes for a wide range of magazines and other publications, including Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, American History, and World War II.

Freeman has won more than a dozen awards for his writing, including the coveted Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists - twice in five years. He attended the University of Georgia in Athens and began his writing career there, working for newspapers while studying journalism and political science.

After receiving his degree, he went on to work for The Associated Press in Atlanta and then spent several years as executive editor of a publishing company. He then became a freelance writer, editor, and author.

Freeman's latest work is Troubled Water: Race, Mutiny, and Bravery on a U.S. Aircraft Carrier, to be published in September 2009 by Palgrave. This is the amazing story of a little known race riot on the carrier Kitty Hawk in 1972, focusing on the two senior officers who will determine whether this already tragic episode ends peacefully or spirals down into one of the darkest moments in Navy history. The first is an accomplished white officer who has risen to the pinnacle of his career, the glory assignment for any Naval officer - captain of a United States aircraft carrier. He is a good officer, well meaning and honorable, but like most whites in 1972 he is oblivious to the struggles faced by the black men who serve under him. The second is a younger black officer assigned to the ship only recently to serve as the executive officer, second in command of the carrier. An ambitious, highly accomplished officer, he knows the spotlight is on him as one of the first black men in such a high profile position but strongly resents any suggestion he is there because of his skin color. Together - and sometimes separately, sometimes in spite of each other - they must find a way to end the violent race riot that threatens one of the world's most powerful aircraft carriers.

James Bradley, bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers, Flyboys, and The Imperial Cruise praises Freeman as a talented author whose books provide an important service to the country. Bradley says of Freeman's latest, Troubled Water: "Gregory Freeman has dug out the true hidden story of the first mutiny in the history of the U.S. Navy. You'll enjoy this high-seas thriller."

In 2008, Freeman co-authored Fixing Hell: An Army Psychologist Confronts Evil at Abu Ghraib, with Col. (ret.) Larry C. James, the U.S. Army psychologist who was sent to stop the abuse at the notorious military prison in Abu Ghraib, Iraq. Fixing Hell tells the harrowing tale of a black man struggling to be both a military officer and a medical professional, while also revealing previously unknown details about the prison scandal and how the system was improved.

Freeman won wide acclaim for The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II, published in 2007 by New American Library. This popular book tells the fascinating but previously unknown story of Operation Halyard, a super secret and ultra risky rescue mission to save downed American airmen in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Malcolm McConnell, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of American Soldier, says of The Forgotten 500: "Freeman chronicles [the story] with a master's touch for detail. Although this book reads like a fast paced novel, it is based on scores of probing interviews and meticulous archival research." Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep Dark, says The Forgotten 500 is "a literary and journalistic achievement of the highest order, a book that illuminates, thrills and reminds us that heroes sometimes do live among us. It will take your breath away."

Before that, Freeman saw great success with Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It, originally published in July 2002 by William Morrow. In Sailors to the End, Freeman tells the story of the young men aboard an aircraft carrier in 1967, following their life-and-death struggles through an accidental fire that threatens to destroy the world's most powerful ship. Sailors to the End was enthusiastically embraced by the military community and general interest readers alike. One reviewer said, "The book grabs readers and leaves them emotionally exhausted. In particular, the description of the death of sailor James Blaskis in a remote and inaccessible part of the ship cannot leave a reader unmoved." A Kirkus Reviews writer called Sailors to the End "a compassionate account of a dramatic incident in modern naval history, told with cinematic immediacy and narrative skill." Senator John McCain, who was injured in the fire, endorsed the book and called it "a riveting account" that honors the men who died.

In Lay This Body Down: The 1921 Murders of Eleven Plantation Slaves, Freeman paints a vivid picture of a plantation run with slave labor 56 years after the Civil War. Melissa Fay Greene, author of The Temple Bombing and Praying for Sheetrock, called Lay This Body Down a "magnificently well-written book." Library Journal's Robert C. Jones wrote that "this moving narrative account is arguably the most complete history of this event available."

See the author's web site at www.gregoryafreeman.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What is the definition of a mutiny?, July 24, 2009

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Troubled Water: Race, Mutiny, and Bravery on the USS Kitty Hawk (Hardcover)

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That is the core question surrounding this book. A mutiny conjures up the image of films like "The Caine Mutiny" and "Mutiny on the Bounty." It involves the successful violent overthrow of a ship's captain by his crew. A standard definition is "Open rebellion against constituted authority, especially rebellion of sailors against superior officers" [...]. Those have happened, of course, but they are rare. But is a riot on board a ship a mutiny?

That is the issue discussed in this elegantly written but over argued book about the October 12-13, 1972, incident aboard the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. The attack carrier Kitty Hawk had been on station at Vietnam's Gulf of Tonkin for several months when this took place, and had a crew complement of 348 officers and 4,135 enlisted men aboard. Of these, 5 officers and 297 enlisted men were African American. Racial tension ran high in the U.S. at this time, and the crew, as a microcosm of the nation, reflected those tensions. A white captain and an African American executive officer (XO) played key roles in the race riot that took place on the ship overnight on this one occasion.

As Gregory A. Freeman makes clear in this well-written account, the Kitty Hawk was supposed to return home after almost six months on the line, but was turned back at Subic Bay, the Philippines, and returned to its station near Vietnam. While on shore leave there were some racially-motivated incidents and when investigated after returning to the ship this seems to have been the spark that set off a chain of events, many of them misunderstandings, leading to violence.

Like most riots, this one on the night of October 12-13 began over a minor altercation in the evening that escalated and spread to other locations. Mostly it involved fist fights, but some sailors ganged up on others, others armed themselves, and a few received serious injuries. There were two major confrontations, one on the hangar deck and the other involving a standoff in the forecastle between about 150 or so, many of whom were armed. The captain and the XO tried to control the situation, but sometimes they overreacted and exacerbated the situation. At other times they took quite effective action. The XO, for example, diffused the last major confrontation by talking with other African American sailors for about two hours, appealing to them as one African American to another. He persuaded them to put down their weapons and return to their compartments. When this broke up about 0230 ship's time, the incident aboard Kitty Hawk was essentially over.

Twenty-six sailors were charged with assault and other crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In all 47 sailors, most of whom were white, were treated for injuries and three required medical evacuation. Interestingly, the crew returned to air operations the next morning. In all, the Kitty Hawk established a record of 177 consecutive days on the line. Its officers and senior enlisted sailors also took action to ensure that such a race riot did not occur again.

So was this a mutiny? I question that it was; I believe the author seriously overstates the case. It was certainly a race riot, but it was not really aimed at taking over the ship, at least there is no evidence of serious planning to do so. The U.S. Navy, of course, does not enjoy admitting to such embarrassing and difficult events in its history, but there was a 1973 Congressional investigation that uncovered serious racial problems in the Navy that required redress. The Navy also had other racial incidents aboard other ships during the Vietnam era, and one of its official historians, John Sherwood, has written a superb account of them in "Black Sailor, White Navy: Racial Unrest in the Fleet during the Vietnam War Era" (New York University Press, 2007). I recommend Sherwood's history as definitive, and Gregory Freeman's as a dramatic recreation of the Kitty Hawk riot, but it plays too loosely with the concept of mutiny. For this reason I give this book only three stars.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mutiny or riot....., June 23, 2009

By 

Robert Busko (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Troubled Water: Race, Mutiny, and Bravery on the USS Kitty Hawk (Hardcover)

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Gregory A. Freeman's Troubled Water: Race, Mutiny and Bravery on the USS Kitty Hawk is one of the most riveting books I've read, perhaps ever. That a modern aircraft carrier on station off the coast of Vietnam in 1972 can have a riot occur between black and white sailors is nearly unfathomable. As a former Marine, used to following orders and respecting my officers and NCO's, the thought that a group of sailors could not only beat their shipmates but jeopardize operations in a combat zone is simply beyond understanding.

Freeman does a wonderful job with a technically difficult subject. Writing this account not only requires some understanding of the time in which they happened, but also the purpose of the Kitty Hawk as a tool of war and American policy. Interviews with participants (shall we call them survivors?) is also required, not to mention reading through the official investigation results. The author is on top of his game.

The Navy apparently doesn't want to use the term mutiny for obvious reasons. Mutiny is a legal term that conjures out of control crews taking a ship and killing the captain and his loyal subordinates. Of course, that didn't happen in this case, so technically I suppose the Navy's boast of a mutiny never occurring on an American naval vessel is in tact. However, this incident, and a later incident on the USS Constellation certainly comes awfully close. Participants were tried and many convicted

Freeman also looks into some of the complaints that the black crewman had that they used to justify their actions. The captain of the Kitty Hawk, Capt. Marland W. `Doc' Townsend, and the XO, Benjamin W. Cloud, himself an African-American, both felt that the rampaging sailors never attempted to use a grievance system in place and working before this happened. Townsend felt that the riot on the ship was planned and premeditated by outside factions, either related to the racial unrest at home or related to the antiwar movement.

That the rioting ruined careers is a fact. The Navy has learned from both the Kitty Hawk and Constellation incidences and initiated change. Hopefully this will prevent future incidences.

Troubled Water is a page turner and burner. It will also be a puzzling read for anyone who has served in the military, especially the Navy/Marine family.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was there., January 23, 2010

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John Weiser (Georgia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Troubled Water: Race, Mutiny, and Bravery on the USS Kitty Hawk (Hardcover)

I was there on the Kitty Hawk during this incident. I would have to say, reading this book gave me a bit of closure on some of the events of that horrific night. The author did an excellent job giving the this reader accurate details. It is an easy read and I would suggest those that want to know what really happened, this book will give the reader the view from those that were there...not the "government'" side of the story.