Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Eli T. Reich, USN (Ret.), Vol. I: 1913-1999

Volume I covers Admiral Reich's career prior to 1963. He graduated from submarine school in 1939 and was assigned to the USS Sealion (SS-195). In Manila in December 1941, he was lunching on a ship in the harbor when the Sealion (which he had left moments before) was demolished by Japanese bombs. His descriptions of submarine experience in the Pacific and Sea of Japan are graphic and detailed, as are his experiences in destroyers. He concludes his volume with his command of the missile cruiser USS Canberra (CAG-2) and his fight to uncover the flaws in the Terrier missile system. It was this experience that led him inevitably to the job as "czar" of the investigative study of the 3-Ts--Tartar, Terrier, and Talos missiles--as chronicled in Volume II. Volume II continues his career in 1963 when the admiral was Director, Surface Missile Systems Project, followed by his tour as Commander Antisubmarine Warfare Group Five in Southeast Asia. He then was assigned to Washington as Director of the Logistic Plans Division and as Acting Comptroller of the Navy. Prior to his retirement in 1973 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Production, Engineering and Material Acquisition). Later he was appointed Administrator of the Office of Petroleum Allocation in the Department of Interior and then was a consultant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense where he was given special cognizance over shipbuilding problems and contracts.