The Restless Wave: A Novel of the United States Navy (Scott Bradley James, Book 1). Admiral James Stavridis USN, author; Marc Cashman, narrator.
This is the first in what promises to be a great new series about the Navy, the sea and those who serve our country, those who also make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that others may enjoy the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness in a free world. The author was actually one of those heroes.
Scott James is graduating from high school and he wants to be in the Navy. He attends the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His first love and girlfriend, Caroline, attends Goucher College. Although they continue to see each other, when she becomes pregnant, James fears having to marry her and being forced to leave the Naval Academy. He will not contemplate leaving and convinces himself that he is really not at fault, she is. When she brings up the idea of a very illegal and dangerous abortion, he does nothing to dissuade her. The only responsibility he assumes is providing some money, but he doesn’t even have enough for the whole procedure. He reasons that it wasn’t his fault. Shamefully, shortly after, Caroline dies from sepsis, and once again, James rationalizes his own guilt and blames it all mostly on her poor choices. Scott James has a lot of growing up to do and a lot of learning to do about accepting responsibility for his actions. The Navy is the perfect place for him to do just that. When he graduates, early, because of the atmosphere of impending war that is building in Europe as Hitler gains more and more control, he and his roommate and best friend, Sean Kelley, are both sent to Hawaii, to the Military base on Oahu known as Pearl Harbor. On December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor sustained a devastating attack by the Japanese, and suddenly America was at war.
Scott had fallen in love for the second time with Beatrice Kailani Wallace, and is with her at the time of the attack. When he returns to his battleship, the USS West Virginia, he finds his Commander near death and the devastation around him catastrophic. Almost the entire fleet of battleships and cruisers were damaged or destroyed. His friends are on the USS Nevada which sustained devastating damage. Scott is worried about his friends and searches for them. He puts Kai on the back burner. Because the ships need major repairs, which will take months, the sailors too, are at “dry dock”. Somehow, though, Scott manages to get himself reassigned to another ship while waiting for his ship to be repaired. This happens to him several times because Scott is helping to engineer these reassignments so he can become proficient on all of them. He wants desperately to advance up the ladder in the Navy. As he sees his friends and others suffer great injuries and/or receive medals for their service, his jealous and immature, irresponsible streak surfaces, but he pushes it down and soldiers on. He turns into a man, and soon he does achieve the recognition he desires. In the interim, though, because he is not a very good communicator when he is gone, and rarely writes to Kai, she takes up with his roommate, Kelley, out of loneliness. At first it is a great friendship, but then it deepens into love. Has Kelley betrayed Scott? Has Kai cheated or is his absence and silence reason enough to look for other pastures.
As the triangle develops and Scott advances in the service of his country, his friends do as well, sometimes with tragic consequences. Kai still loves Scott. Scott still loves Kai. Will they be able to reconnect as they have done in the past? How will Scott ride out this war? Will he maintain a relationship with Kai, while away at sea, so that she does not go looking for comfort from others? She now has a child. Will he love the child or always wonder if it is his or his friend Kelley’s child? These answers will probably come in the sequels to this book, however, the details about the ships, the battles, the Navy and the way it works, the hierarchy, the “caste” system, are illustrated very well by the author, a former Admiral in the Navy himself who experienced all of the issues he addresses in the book. In addition, though Scott and other characters are fictitious, many of the officers are very real and enhance the novel with the authenticity of their stories. Kelley and Scott meet and befriend Joe Taussig who was very much a real person, as was his father, an admiral disgraced for believing Japan would invade, and then reinstated when it was proven that he was correct. The inability for some at the top to take advice from others is writ large in other circumstances as well.
The details of the sea and the ships and the war are fascinating. The reader witnesses the destruction and terror at Pearl Harbor. With each of Scott’s new assignments, the reader learns about different kinds of ships, different tactics used, the casualties and cruelty that comes with the use of the weapons of death and the structure of command. Scott wants to be in the fight and to be recognized. Slowly, his skill proves him worthy, and he begins his rise up the ladder. The reader learns all there is to know about the process because the author knows all about it, as well. When this novel ends, the war is still raging. The sequel will most likely resolve the unanswered questions and create some new ones. I am looking forward to the next one.