1942, and America has entered the war against Germany yet, for those manning the powerful, but vulnerable, gunboats of Britain's Coastal Forces, victory remains a long way over the horizon. Though faster than most conventional warships, the light wooden craft can be destroyed by a single, well-placed shell. Their nighttime mid-Channel meetings with the German
Kriegsmarine
are brisk and brutal, with success often measured by whoever stays afloat, although daytime brings a more normal life for their volunteer crews. These are men new to the sea, and new to a world filled with extreme danger and ruthless contrasts. A world where close associations soon form and are quickly relied upon. A world where lives are made, changed and, too often, lost on the savage waters of the Narrow Seas.