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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A superbly written book about an outstanding naval officer, 12 Nov 2000
By A Customer
Great care has been taken to write an interesting and eminently readable biography of a truely outstanding naval officer and 20th Century leader. From his humble beginnings to his pivotal role as Chief of Defence Staff during the 1982 Falklands war, this book charts, in great detail, the rise of Lord Lewin through the ranks of the officer corps, his commands at sea and his mastery of the corridors of Whitehall. A must read for anyone interested in the role of the navy in the latter half of the last century.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A well researched piece of work that is notable for what it leaves out. , 29 Dec 2007
From the politically obedient point of view which Rear Admiral Richard Hill, editor for the past quarter century of the Naval Review, so admirably represents, Lewin's career was, to all intents and purposes, impeccable. Here was a man who was always behind the right desk in Whitehall at the right time. British admirals tend to fall in love with their own image, and Hill is no exception: his admiration of Lewín borders on adoration.
After war service, specialization in gunnery and early promotion to commander, Lewin went to Whitehall in the early fifties where he played a major role in re-organising officer training. This was the time when plans were in hand to amalgamate the War Office, the Air Ministry and the Admiralty into the bureaucratic leviathan known as the MoD.
There followed a succession of plum jobs: command of the `C' class destroyer HMS Corunna, service aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, and command of the Dartmouth Training Squadron. After that, from 1963 until his retirement in 1982 as Chief of Defence Staff, Lewin was at, or very close to, the centre of naval politics.
Hill does a fine job of recounting Lewin's career as a Whitehall Warrior, and to that extent his book is of great value - though, infuriatingly for researchers, one cannot copy excerpts from Amazon's `look inside this book' facility.
So that's the bright side of the coin. The other side - studiously avoided by Admiral Hill - is murkier.
1. In 1966, under pressure from Wilson & Healey,`the Naval Staff [...] reluctantly embarked upon a paper entitled The Navy without Carriers' (p. 170). Why? Were they afraid that they might dip out on promoti | |
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