From Stem to Stern - A Fletcher's Story By: Joe Galligan (654 pages, photos, drawings maps) Reviewer: Bernard R. Ditter Overall Rating: Four Stars - Highly recommended: An excellent book. This is not just another book about another tin can sailor's shipboard experience! This is a book about shipbuilding, naval history, war, global politics and much more under the title of and tribute to the quintessential Fletcher class destroyer; the USS Colahan (DD-658). The author, in very readable narrative form, tells us about his ship before he got on it, while he was on it and after he was on it. While taking us on this journey, we take side trips to learn about the role of the navy in the Civil War and, in particular, about one boat that was the precursor to the Arleigh Burkes of today's navy. We are told of the build-up of the US Navy from the close of WWI to the beginning of WWII, with emphasis on the resultant fleet of Fletcher class destroyers. We have revealed to us the Japanese master plan for dominance in the Pacific and the relatively unknown existence of a US plan to respond. We see how both plans unfold and, how soon thereafter, we were again at war in Korea. This part of the book was of particular interest to me as, during two tours with Task Force 77, I served on two of the destroyers mentioned in the book, went on Formosa Patrol by way of Subic Bay, took liberty in Hong Kong, and participated in rescue operations when the USS Boxer was afire. I am sure that many of the readers of these reviews will have been at sea during those times and will enjoy this excellent overview of what was happening and why. The author's continuing discussion about geopolitics including the cold war from the close of the Korean War to the beginning of our involvement in Viet Nam is well worth reading. For those of you who read this book, do not be surprised at the plethora of subject matter not mentioned in this review. This book is filled with information. I am in awe of the knowledge base required to write this book and in particular the skill of the author in presenting a mix of the ordinary and the arcane with such ease.