agreement between the United States and Cuba
which govern our rights to the Naval Base at
Guantanamo in order not to give Castro any basis
for canceling these agreements. The CO of any
naval activity stationed in a foreign country must be
familiar with the agreements under which he is
operating; for example, base rights and Status of
Forces Agreements. These are all matters of
international law and international relations. It is
imperative that the commander understand his
position in the international scheme.
A topic sentence need not stand at the beginning of
a paragraph. In fact, it is possible to have a well-written
paragraph with a topic sentence in the middle or at the
end. In naval correspondence, the topic sentence in the
middle of the paragraph is less likely to be used. If
placed at the end, it becomes a summary-a useful device
for pulling the paragraph together and leaving a strong
final effect. However, the summary at the end of a
paragraph is not used extensively in naval letters and
directives. A summary paragraph for an entire letter is
sometimes appropriate.
ORDER OF SENTENCES.– A well-organized
paragraph has its various ideas introduced in an orderly
sequence. This sequence may be place order,
chronological order, logical order or order of emphasis.
The purpose of all is the same-to lead the reader along
the path you want him to take with a minimum of
backtracking or skipping about, and thereby leaving a
clearer, stronger impression in his mind.
. Place order is used for descriptions. The follow-
ing description is adapted from the report of a shipboard
accident:
During preparations for the transfer of fuel,
seven sections of 2 1/2-inch hose were connected
and rigged between a Navy cargo ship and a fuel oil
barge. The hose passed through a hold of the ship in
which there were several light fixtures of the type
designed for use with globes and guards. The globe
and guard were missing from one light fixture,
leaving the light bulb unprotected. One man was
stationed in the hold and another man stood outside
at a hatch that opened into it.
Notice that the writer begins with the rigging of the
hose between the two ships. Then he takes us inside the
hold of the cargo ship and pictures the situation there.
Finally, he gives us the positions of the two men
involved in the accident.
l The next two paragraphs of the report illustrate
chronological order, the order used for narrating events
and for explaining steps in a process:
Upon signal to commence the transfer of fuel,
a pump was started on the barge, and pressure was
applied within the hose. A section of hose in the
cargo hold ruptured; the hose whipped with great
force, struck and broke the unprotected light bulb.
Arcing from the filament of the broken bulb
ignited combustible vapor and caused a flash fire
which, although extinguished within a short time,
severely burned both men. The man who was
stationed inside the hatch died approximately three
weeks later.
Incidentally, note the amount of concrete detail in
both the description and the narrative. This is a
condensed report. The original probably had much more
detail, such as the names and numbers of the ships, the
number of the hold and the names and rates of the men.
Below is another example of chronological order
adapted from a Navy directive. In this case, we have the
order in which steps are to be performed in a procedure:
A selection board convened by the Chief of
Naval Personnel considers the applications of fully
qualified NESEP candidates in January and
February. Those candidates determined by the
board to be best qualified are designated
provisionally selected candidates. The names of
candidates thus provisionally selected are published
by a BUPERS notice in March. Provisionally
selected candidates for NESEP will be further
screened after selection, and prior to being ordered
to the summer preparatory session, by participation
in a form of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) of
the College Entrance Examination Boards. This test
will be forwarded to each candidate’s command for
administration, and will determine the candidate’s
admissibility to a NESEP college or university.
Those who fail to qualify on the SAT will have their
status as provisionally selected candidates
terminated.
When there are many steps, it is often desirable, in
naval correspondence, to present these in tabulated form
rather than in a solid paragraph. Usually, then, they are
designated by letters or numbers as appropriate.
. Because of the modern emphasis on short
paragraphs, sometimes it is necessary for you to quote
several paragraphs to see how a unit of subject matter is
organized. This is the case in the example below, in
1-17
