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