In August 1939, on the eve of the Nazi invasion of their Homeland, the Poles took the painful decision to send three of the most powerful warships in their nascent Navy westward to fight alongside the Royal Navy. From this small nucleus, a potent naval force grew fissiparously - sustained by men who escaped from a defeated Poland and from the Polish diaspora. The men of this Polish Navy in exile contributed out of all proportion to their numbers. This is their story.