Sea Wolf: The Daring Exploits of Navy Legend John D. Bulkely

Bulkeley, one of the most colorful characters in U.S. Navy history, numbers among his exploits the daring PT-boat rescue of General MacArthur from Corregidor in 1942. He is probably best remembered for his prolonged defiance of Fidel Castro when commanding the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, in the mid-'60s: the Cuban leader called him a ``gorilla of the worst species'' and put a $50,000 dead-or-alive bounty on his head. In the more than two decades since then, Bulkeley has headed the Naval Board of Inspection and Survey, charged with maintaining shipboard standards of combat readiness. With obvious relish, Breuer ( Devil Boats , etc.) recounts the admiral's successes in butting heads with Pentagon brass over such matters as the inadequacies of the F-18 fighter-bomber and the carrier Kennedy . Not the least of Bulkeley's accomplishments, we learn, is that he is still on active duty at the age of 78. This is a lively biography about a larger-than-life hero. Photos. (Mar.)