The naval war in the Pacific is raging when Captain Thurston VC resists an office job to take command of HMS Inflexible, a proud and powerful aircraft carrier.It is no easy task. The overwhelming determination of the Japanese fighters and the cruel weather conditions make Thurston's command fraught with difficulties. But the struggle to provide air support for the US and Commonwealth troops must continue.Home is on the other side of the world, bare...

1942: The Mediterranean Operation Stonehenge gets under way - a convoy laden with desperately needed fuel, food and ammunition for the besieged island of Malta sets sail.Captain Robert Thurston commands the cruiser HMS Marathon, one of the escort vessels on this Malta run. Thurston is a career officer with a record of conspicuous gallantry under fire, from Jutland to the North Atlantic convoys. But he is also a man under stress - in the last three years he has seen one ship go to t...

Death by fire - Death by ice.These were the twin threats confronting the seamen on the North Atlantic convoys: fire from the Luftwaffe's bombs, and from the torpedoes of the lurking U-Boats: ice in the deadly cold waters that could kill in three minutes, five minutes at most.Between these two hells lived another threat: the slow paralyzing hand of fear.