At christening ceremonies for a new warship, the admiral found himself standing next to a lieutenant commander. Just to make conversation, he asked the younger officer: "What class were you?" The commander grew flustered, stammered that he wasn't an Annapolis man at all. Then it was the admiral's turn to be flustered. He confessed last week: "I had no intention of embarrassing the man. I shouldn't have mentioned class."
Many an old-line Navy officer wouldn't have given it another thought. Rear Admiral James Lemuel Holloway Jr. did. Not long afterwards, Navy Secretary James...
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