Command at Sea

Blue & Gold Professional Library

by James G. Stavridis, Robert P. Girrier

Considered the bible of commanding officers at sea, this classic guide covers virtually every subject of relevance to the command of a U.S. Navy ship.

480 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1998

About the author

A Florida native, Jim Stavridis attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent 37 years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and counter piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded US Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest serving Combatant Commander in recent US history. Following his military career, he served for five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

In the course of his career in the Navy, he served as senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. He led the Navy’s premier operational think tank for innovation, Deep Blue, immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Admiral Stavridis was promoted directly from 1-star rank to 3-star rank in 2004.
He won the Battenberg Cup for commanding the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet and the Navy League John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational leadership, along with more than 50 US and international medals and decorations, including 28 from foreign nations. He also commanded a Destroyer Squadron and a Carrier Strike Group, both in combat.

In 2016, he was vetted for Vice President by Secretary Hillary Clinton, and subsequently invited to Trump Tower to discuss a cabinet position with President Donald Trump.

He earned a PhD from The Fletcher School at Tufts, winning the Gullion prize as outstanding student in his class in 1983, as well as academic honors from the National and Naval War Colleges as a distinguished student. He speaks Spanish and French.
Admiral Stavridis has published ten books on leadership, the oceans, maritime affairs, and Latin America, as well as hundreds of articles in leading journals. An active user of social networks, he has tens of thousands of connections on the social networks. His TED talk on 21st century security in 2012 has close to one million views. He tweeted the end of combat operations in the Libyan NATO intervention. His two most recent books are “Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character” in 2019 and the novel “2034: A Novel of the Next World War” in 2021.

Admiral Stavridis is a monthly columnist for TIME Magazine and Chief International Security and Diplomacy Analyst for NBC News.

He is happily married to Laura, and they have two daughters – one working at Google and the other a Registered Nurse and former naval officer, both married to physicians.

Recent commentary: https://admiralstav.com/news/

Reviews

[Brian S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally read this book as Executive Officer. Nothing really enlightening in here. If after 15 years of being a SWO you do not know what is in this book then you really missed out on a lot.

I recommend this to Senior Division Officers and Department Heads. It will give you a great understanding on how your ship is being run and how you can be a part of the solution instead of being a pain in the XO's rear end.

[Scott Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really glad I read this book, it was very interesting. It's basically a field guide on how to be the commander of a ship in the US Navy, written by a former commander. It lays out, in general, the entire scope of what a ship's commander's job is, and it's enormous. Topics covered include: the commander's complete and total responsibility for ALL aspects of the operation of the ship; how to organize and train a crew for a brand new ship; how to smoothly assume command of an existing ship; ensuring that all crew members are trained for day-to-day operations as well as their combat assignments; ensuring that all crew members have opportunity and training to advance in their naval careers; ensuring that all systems operate perfectly all the time; ensuring that all maintenance is done perfectly, on time, every time; acting as the chief engineering, administrative, sailing, maintenance, navigating, and combat leader; all the on-shore duties including interfacing with embassy and US Navy staff and crew member families; etc etc etc. I'm a US Naval history buff, but I really did not appreciate what a HUGE job a ship's commander has. This book was a little dry at points, and used jargon that did not show up in the glossary (Google helped here), but my eyes were certainly opened. Recommended for anyone with an interest in US Naval history.

[Rowdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gave me some thoughts and perspective on a few things, but there's a lot in here that is learned on the job, especially as a Department Head and Executive Officer. It's a bit too technical, and doesn't speak as much to the Art of Command, like the incredibly difficult decisions that no one ever warns you about.

[Ness Sanchez-Mazo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most recommended book to navy leaders