This book describes the Royal Navy's Search and Rescue, from the air-sea rescue launches of World War II to the highly trained and dedicated helicopter crews of today. It describes how it has developed from an operational requirement to rescue wounded soldiers or ditched aircrew to a year-round, all-weather, 24-hour-a-day service to the general public, whether it be a trawler with an injured crewman, a capsized boat, a coaster whose cargo has shifted in a gale or a ship aground and breaking up in heavy seas. By the author of "Air Power at Sea 1945 to Today".