Destroyer Skipper: A Memoir of Command at Sea

by Don Sheppard

A personal account of leadership lessons developed through his adventures on the world's oceans. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891415556
• ISBN13: 9780891415558
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Presidio Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Very interesting

Sheppard entered the Navy as a seaman recruit in 1948, became an officer and retired as a full commander in 1977. This book is the third in a series covering Sheppard's career in the Navy. It covers the period 1970 to 1977 when Sheppard was executive officer of one destroyer and captain of another. I found it particularly interesting because I was in the Navy from 1977 to 1983. Sheppard answered some questions I've had for a while, such as why officers wore V-neck T-shirts and enlisted personnel wore crew neck T-shirts. My only complaint is that none of the names (save the author's) is real. Sheppard explains that the characters are real people with phony names, or composites of two or more people. Of course, once I got 50 pages or so into the book I realized why he couldn't use real names. He would have been sued. For example, when Sheppard was executive officer of a destroyer visiting Olongapo City in the Philippines, his captain got infatuated with a teenage filipino girl and completed paperwork to have a $400/month allotment sent to her, claiming she was his sister. Sheppard intercepted the paperwork and saved his captain's career. I supposed Sheppard might be embellishing events, or even writing fiction, but it rings true to me.

The real Navy - Destroyers

As an ex-sailor I couldn't put this book down. I served aboard a 2250 FramII can and this book is right on the money portraying life aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer (WESPAC) during the late 60's-early 70's Navy. I felt like I was back on the bridge, passing the word for watch relief's, making 12 o'clock reports to the skipper, or heading for the galley after the 20-24 for mid-rats. . I hope Mr. Sheppard continues to write. I'll buy anything he writes about the Greyhounds of the Sea.