Against the background of the Royal Navy's great strength in 1918 and its depleted state in 1939, the author relates the operational story of World War II at sea in Europe and the Far East. He explores the problems of command, control and intelligence; of the dominant personalities and inter-relationships such as between Sir Dudley Pound, First Sea Lord and Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admirality and later, Prime Minister; and the economic, technological and industrial aspects such as ship design, the building industry and Britain, together with her sea power, in decline at the end of the war.