I read this book when I was a junior officer of the Italian Navy, shortly after it was published. It left a very strong impression on me. It's the story of all the mistakes and blunders made by the Italian navy Admirals in particular during 2nd WW. The title means "Iron ships, wooden heads", and the title says it all. The writer, if I remember well, was a journalist of the Corriere della Sera, the main Italian newspaper, and as such the book was not biased by any hint of antimilitarism linked with political or ideological reasons. It was just facts, and history.
My personal life in the Italian Navy, for 14 years, showed me that things had not changed much, so I left the Navy to pursue my own career. This does not mean that the Italian navy is bad, there were and are many officers and petty officers who work hard, have passion, pride and are patriotic. But in general, even today, the Italian navy suffers of the same problems this book wrote about. It was a brilliant book.