Confessions of a Swabbie

What does it mean to become a man at sea?

In Confessions of a Swabbie, Felton Hudson takes readers aboard U.S. Navy destroyers during the late 1950s and early 1960s-an era shaped by the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a rapidly changing America.

At just seventeen years old, Hudson leaves rural Georgia and enlists in the Navy with little thought of what lies ahead. What follows is a brutally honest, often hilarious account of boot camp, shipboard life, radar school, liberty towns, hard discipline, racism in the ranks, and the relentless challenge of proving oneself among seasoned sailors.

Serving aboard the USS Brister (DER-327) and the USS William R. Rush (DDR-714), Hudson recounts:

• The realities of enlisted life on "tin cans"
• Sea sickness, survival, and brotherhood
• Cold War patrols in the North Pacific
• Racial tensions aboard Navy ships
• The Cuban Missile Crisis from a sailor's view
• The transition from sailor to civilian life

Told in a direct, unapologetic voice, this memoir captures the grit, humor, and contradictions of Navy life in mid-20th-century America.

For veterans, history readers, and anyone who has ever wondered what it was like to serve before modern technology changed warfare forever, Confessions of a Swabbie offers an unforgettable voyage.