Freedom of expression and individual enterprise have distinguished the societies of powers dominant at sea; and since supreme maritime nations have prevailed over their territorial rivals in the great wars of the modern era, it is they who have created today's world. In this final volume of his masterful trilogy, Peter Padfield carries the theme through the terrible wars of the last century to the present, 'offering up sea battles as vivid as any you will find in Patrick O'Brien' (Wall Street Journal).