To the honor of the fleet [Paperback]

Robert H Pilpel (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 459 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1st edition (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689109326
• ISBN-13: 978-0689109324
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,706,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cloak and Daggers at sea!, February 5, 2002

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Paul Sayles (Japan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: To the honor of the fleet (Paperback)

To the Honor of the Fleet is a superb book about the activities of two US Navy officers as they work with oppossing forces in the prelude to American entry into World War I.

The author skillfully takes you from the dining room of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt to the ships of the Imperial German Navy and the Royal Navy in the years prior to the entry of the United States into World War I. He also takes you behind the scenes at the White House of Woodrow Wilson as he strives to keep the United States out of the fighting in Europe and the Admiralty of Admiral of the Fleet Sir John (Jacky) Fisher. It is a story of intelligence gathering by US Navy officers that is vital to both warring countries and the dilemas that the officers who are attached to the respective fleets feel as they discuss and analyze what they've learned. It is a story that once you get into, it is very difficult to get away from. It is a story of suspicion and doubt and jumping to conclusions based on a faulty analysis of the available information.

The author is equally at home in Roosevelt's dining room as he is in the magazine of a German battleship. He describes events of high drama over the dining room table or in the midst of a battle with excellent attention to detail and atmosphere. You will get the feeling that you are right there with the charecters.

The charecters are all well developed. The author does a fine job of mixing real people with his fictional charecters and making it hard to remember which is which. The action realistic. Youo can almost smell the gases from the guns and funnels of the ships as they fire at one another. You also get a feel for the emotions and prejudices of the officer class of the US Navy.

It is a fine book that deals with a period that little if any writing has been done for the general reading public. It will interest those with a maritime interest as well as those with an interest in diplomacy and spying which might pass for diplomacy.
I highly recommend this book.