War at Sea #42

A U.S. naval base on a tropical island faces mounting pressure from a revolutionary government and saboteurs determined to drive the Americans out. When ammunition ships explode and carrier pilots are shot down, the base commander must track down hidden anti-aircraft batteries and underwater saboteurs—all while navigating tense diplomacy with a hostile regime. The admiral and his men discover that their best weapon against the propaganda campaign might be something simpler than military force.

Fresh out of radio school, third-class operator Mike Carmody makes a rookie mistake aboard a light cruiser—he accidentally sends a false SOS that sends every nearby ship scrambling to the rescue. While enduring the fallout from his blunder, Chief Radioman Moffett shares a harrowing wartime tale of his own: a desperate Arctic convoy escort mission in 1942 where he made the same error deliberately, but for stakes far higher than anyone could have imagined. It's a story about learning when rules exist for a reason, and what it costs to bend them—even when lives depend on it.

Joe Carley, a grizzled Navy boatswain with sixteen years of service, finds himself answering to Ensign Hollingsworth Todd III—a fresh officer candidate with barely nine months in uniform—when Todd takes command of his landing craft at Norfolk in 1944. Skeptical and seasoned, Carley watches the young "90 day wonder" stumble through the chaos of the Saipan amphibious assault, but as the campaign unfolds and lives hang in the balance, Todd's courage and judgment prove worthy of command. Their rivalry transforms into hard-won respect as both men discover what true leadership means under fire.

A prestigious Navy carrier vanishes in Hong Kong's fog during a routine salvage operation, only to resurface under communist control with combat aircraft and weaponry—forcing Commander Clayton Haas to navigate a Cold War crisis when the stolen ship launches attacks on Allied vessels in the Pacific. The race is on to reclaim America's "lost lady" before this dangerous warship becomes an instrument of communist expansion.