Black company

the long version

"Over strong opposition, submarine chaser 1264 went to sea in the spring of 1944 with a crew of fifty black enlisted men and five white officers. With its deployment, the U.S. Navy began a social experiment designed to test whether a group of African Americans could operate effectively at sea under wartime conditions. At the time blacks had been serving only as messmen in the navy, but ships were being built faster than men could be trained and the navy desperately need manpower. The ship's captain, Lt. Eric Purdon, had been to sea for only ten days before assuming command." "Black Company is the story of a commanding officer fearful that his inexperience would jeapardize the aspirations of an entire people, of a crew quick to resent a slur but quicker to react to enemy submarines, and of a young officer assigned to the ship in 1945 who later became the first black rear admiral in the navy."--BOOK JACKET.