"Away Boarders"

the long version

The idea of détente with the Soviets has not yet filtered down to Boatswain's Mate First Class Fatso Ciononni, who has skippered his scow‐like landing craft through two other novels by Admiral Gallery. This one finds Captain Fatso and his boys on duty in the Med, where they play chicken with Russian cruisers, and do other mean nautical things. The climactic caper involves an American‐made gunboat being transshipped to Egypt by way of Soviet headquarters. What happens on the high seas is a mixture of ingenious peacetime battle action, garnished with the author's salt‐encrusted observations on the state of the world.