April 1915, and it has become apparent that the war will be neither glorious nor short. England is changing, rapidly in some aspects, and the feuding between military and politicians is just beginning. The three remaining midshipmen, two successful, one disgraced, have survived so far. Simon Sturton is still with the destroyers of the Harwich Patrol, fighting in the unending series of minor actions that keep the Channel open for the troopships to cross to France. Christopher Adams, once the bright star of his year at Dartmouth, is sent from one temporary, insignificant posting to another, mostly in minesweeping trawlers manned by Reservists, managing to find action in the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Richard Baker, a failure at sea, finds his new life in the Army increasingly to his taste, enjoying the social prominence of his VC in London, while he trains his new battalion and takes them back to France