C. Herbert Gilliland

In his foreword to this biography about a great friend, Herman Wouk describes the book as “the unadorned truth about...a decidedly human gentleman with human failings, more than balanced by rare willpower, brainpower and humor.” A maverick with less than reverential views of the navy that was his life for more than forty years, Gallery was a man of strong character and sharp wit who never shied from controversies and was a formidable opponent. His courageous stand in “The Revolt of the Admirals” nearly cost him his career.

Gallery is best known for his dramatic capture of a German submarine (U-505, now at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago) on the high seas, the first such taking of an enemy vessel since the War of 1812.