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Flagship
A ship comes to life when her crew boards her, lights off her boilers, turns on her generators, and her electronics, and then pretties her up and takes her to sea. This story follows the amphibious flagship USS Eldorado AGC-11, aging veteran of Iwo Jima and Inchon in 1967 as she faces a new kind of war in Vietnam. The book tells of life on a US Navy ship through the eyes of her crew. But it goes deeper; by telling a poignant tale linking a man who helped weld her steel plates and later died at Normandy and his son who served on her in the Vietnam combat zone. In so doing the story reaches into the very meaning of life.
253 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 19, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 7, 2017
A detailed. Navy ship story
The story of life aboard ship was extremely accurate and the characterization was decent. The political comments were similar to my own feelings.
The story of life aboard ship was extremely accurate and the characterization was decent. The political comments were similar to my own feelings.
April 10, 2017
As a contemporary of A.J. Converse, but without the military experience he shares with the reader in Flagship, I thoroughly enjoyed this tale that focused on a dozen sailors on a ship in waters off the coast of Vietnam during the height of the American involvement there. The story--told from multiple points of view, but predominantly from that of junior officer Fred Winthrop--included naval jargon that will likely make it ring true to those who lived through the time, but not so much as to distract a non-naval reader from getting to know the characters and what motivated each.
Converse shares the mundane and routine activities on the ship, including the little things that evolve from trivial incidents into lingering, festering animosities and jealousies among the crew, punctuated by potentially fatal events to which the crew needed to pull together to survive.
Converse tells the tale well. I appreciated the insight into the thoughts of those who chose the military at a time when my cohort chose to oppose it. Reading the account brought back many memories of the ethical questions raised by our country's involvement in Southeast Asia.
Converse shares the mundane and routine activities on the ship, including the little things that evolve from trivial incidents into lingering, festering animosities and jealousies among the crew, punctuated by potentially fatal events to which the crew needed to pull together to survive.
Converse tells the tale well. I appreciated the insight into the thoughts of those who chose the military at a time when my cohort chose to oppose it. Reading the account brought back many memories of the ethical questions raised by our country's involvement in Southeast Asia.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews