A novel about convoy duty in the North Atlantic during World War II. First we follow the career of the Compass Rose, a small corvette built to attack submarines with depth charges. The captain, George Ericson has to train and guide a crew of young sailors, most of them new to the navy. His First Lieutenant, Bennet, is a lazy jerk who harries the men. His sub-lieutenants, Lockhart and Ferraby are just out of training school. Lockhart is a tough, hard worker, a journalist in peacetime, who shows early promise. Ferraby is a timid man who is soon crushed by the pressure of fighting. The ship deals with storms, enemy attacks and all sorts of other experiences including the sinking of one submarine. Bennet soon finds a way to get out of the fighting and moves on to easier work. Lockhart has proven himself by this time and takes over as First Lieutenant. The personal lives of many of the men are covered, but most of them rare unhappy. The one exception, a coxswain who lives with his sister and his friend who is in love with the same sister, suffer grief when they return from a patrol to find the sister dead from a bomb attack. After two tough years at sea, the Compass Rose is attacked while on detached duty and quickly sinks. The crew takes to the sea, but only a portion of them can fit in the life rafts. By morning, the cold Atlantic has taken all but 11. Ericson and Lockhart, each in charge of a raft, manage to keep a few men alive.

Ericson is given another ship, a frigate named Saltash, a larger, faster ship. He is put in charge of a convoy patrol of several ships. Lockhart has to option to command a corvette of his own, but decides instead to stick with Ericson as his First Lieutenant. The Saltash experiences more of the same, including a fierce storm on the trip home from Murmansk and another sub successfully attacked. Lockhart meats a Wren officer and falls in love. They have an affair, she gets pregnant and they plan on getting married, but she drowns in a boating accident while Lockhart is in Brooklyn waiting for the Saltash to be refitted. When the war ends, Ericson and Lockhart are still together, and on their final voyage, they bring in three surrendered German subs.

Good action. Monsarrat’s view of marriage is a bit bleak, which made the personal lives of most of the men pretty depressing, but the war and sea part of the book was exciting.