Friday, December 10, 2010

There is special magic in command at sea.

It is not the job itself, which is mostly the same duties the captain has done before summed up together in new responsibility.  It is not even the freedom and independence of the job, which, though large, are far from total.  The magic of command is the magic of opportunity.  Every captain starts with a clean slate and I urge him to write on it boldly and with pride in his personal signature in the form of a strong command tour in which he accomplishes every reasonable good for his ship.

Captain John Byron
The Captain
USNI Proceedings
September 1982

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Some very fine and illustrious words, though some mention could have been made of the Officers and crew that would have been the key to that strong command tour, without their full devotion and cooperation that tour may not have been successful.

Navyman834