Decorated with 19 medals during his 26 years of service, Deutermann also has garnered accolades for his writing of suspense thrillers and war novels alike since he began publishing 29 years ago.

At 81, the former Naval commander who has penned 27 novels makes his home on a farm off N.C. 150 near Reidsville with his wife, Susan, and a host of handsome Dartmoor ponies. They found the rural area while researching a North Carolina-set novel in 2006.

On Tuesday, Deutermann will help host the national launch of his latest work, “Iwo, 26 Charlie,’’ (St. Martin’s Press) at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch library in Greensboro at 1420 Price Park Road.

The novel follows a young Navy gunnery officer stationed on the battleship Nevada during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. The book was released over the weekend, and attendees will become the first in the nation to garner Deutermann’s signed copies, according to the author’s representatives and the library system.

The free event begins at 6 p.m. at the library in Greensboro. Guests will have the opportunity to discuss the novel with Deutermann and enjoy refreshments during a reception to follow his talk.

Interacting with groups is fun for Deutermann, he said, explaining he forgoes written speeches for extemporaneous discussions about his work. He takes his cues from his audience and tailors the conversation to their curiosity, he said.

It comes naturally

Writing has come naturally to Deutermann for as long as he can remember, he said during a recent interview.

“I have always been a writer, even as an elementary school kid, and it was just a talent that I had,’’ he said. “It’s something I can do and like to do.’’

The author, who worked in the top echelons of the military in Washington, has a wry wit, too.

“I wrote a lot of fiction in the Navy, too — most of it in the Pentagon when it was budget time,’’ he joked from home, describing his farm duty title as “Senior Equine Effluent Engineer — senior, mind you.’’

Most mornings begin with mucking stalls. After a second cup of coffee, Deutermann said he makes his way to his office to write on a computer he is busy adapting to take dictation. For writing, there’s “no set time, no sacred time,’’ he said.

A strong rapport with his longtime agent at St. Martin’s Press makes smooth work of putting together a novel, Deutermann explained.

“We almost have a Vulcan mind meld and can finish one another’s sentences,’’ he said, referring to “Star Trek” character Spock’s ability to read minds.

A local luminary

The realization that an author of Deutermann’s standing lives in the region came as a delightful surprise to Beth Sheffield, head of Adult Programming and Book Club Coordinator for the Greensboro Public Library system.

“We were just so thrilled to find out that Commodore Deutermann was from the Triad, and we believe in supporting literature and the arts here. So it’s quite an honor,’’ Sheffield said.

Sheffield appreciates Deutermann’s ability to blend art with reality, she said.

“I just think he is so good at writing action scenes and interweaving the true story in his fiction in with the novelization of it,” she said.

The after-hours signing event makes it ideal for adults and children, Sheffield said.

“Our programming is for all ages, and I think, especially if they’re interested in history and action, it’s a wonderful event for people of all ages to come out to. The great things about (Deutermann’s) books is there’s a lot of action, but he’s a good crafter of story.’’

Those stories come from a bank of rich experience spent serving in the Navy, Deuterman said. His books have twice earned him the W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction by the American Library Association since 2012.

Deutermann’s military service

In 1964, he served on board destroyer USS Morton for the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident. The first major strikes against North Vietnam followed from the aircraft carrier.

Deutermann trained to operate Swift class gunboats, then shipped to Manila and trained Philippine sailors to use the boats to battle Pirates in Manila Bay and waters off Corregidor.

He later was operations officer on the USS Hull, stationed off the coasts of North and South Vietnam, where he provided Army and Marine forces with naval gunfire support.

Deutermann served again at sea as executive officer of the guided missile destroyer USS Charles F. Adams.

By 1984, the author was named commander of the guided missile destroyer USS Tattnall and served a three-year tour of duty.

Next, Deutermann was appointed executive secretary to the Chief of Naval Operations for JCS matters in Washington, D.C.

In late 1985, the United States Naval Academy graduate became commander of Destroyer Squadron 25, based in Pearl Harbor, for two years.

From 1985 to 1987, Deutermann was assigned to command Destroyer Squadron 25 based in Pearl Harbor.

In 1988, Deuterman returned to the Pentagon as head of the Strategy Planning branch of the Navy staff.

Next, he was named division director of the arms-control negotiations office concerned with chemical, biological, and radiation weapons on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Toward the end of his military career, Deutermann worked as a technical delegate to the United Nations on arms control negotiations with the

Soviet Union in Geneva.

While a lifetime of military experience informs Deutermann’s writing, he said there is great value in studying the patterns of war history, something he did at the Naval War College and in London at the Royal College of Defence Studies.

In those settings, “where using history that’s been laid out for you, do you see patterns, do you see mistakes that are being made again?’’ Deutermann said.

While high strategic focus is placed on aircraft carriers and battleships in modern day warfare, Deutermann said, “the next war will be a submarine war. You can find a carrier. You can’t miss them.’’

“The Guns of August,’’ by Barbara Tookman is a book that provides the kind of war history that can serve to warn modern strategists of brewing peril, Deutermann said.

The book “showed you the maelstrom that existed in geopolitics that led up to the opening of World War I,’’ he said. “You read it and ask, ‘How could no one have seen this coming?’ Everything was done wrong. The parallels with the unease and burning straws in the winds of right now are very similar.’’