Far Aft and Faintly

With the rise of Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s and increasing demands from Imperial Japan, the Government of the Netherlands has deep concerns for its security. Commodore Maarten Danielszoon Sweers, who commands the Ship Design Bureau at the main fleet base in Den Helder, Noord-Holland, is given three years to strengthen the Lilliputian forces of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Given the time constraint, he constructs a screening force of light cruisers and destroyers around the old decommissioned British Battlecruisers HMS Lion and Princess Royal, which have been rebuilt as hybrid Battlecruiser-carriers. The stakes for Sweers and his fellow sailors are high as they seek to secure the Dutch fleet and protect their people from looming threats in this fictionalized account of a country whose participation in World War II has been largely overlooked.