The bold passage of three Nazi battle-cruisers through the English Channel in broad daylight in 1942. The improbable escape of Axis troops from Sicily in 1943. Hitler's most powerful battleship disabled by a a British midget submarine that had penetrated one of Norway's remotest fjords. The rise of the United States Navy to maritime supremacy during World War II. Through accounts of these and other scrupulously researched events, Michael Coles makes a compelling case for the crucial importance of naval power in modern warfare.