This book tells the dramatic story of how the Royal Navy transformed ordinary citizens into first-rate sailors and navy personnel during the Second World War. It covers how they were recruited and trained and how they endured life at sea in hostile waters, protecting convoys in the Mediterranean, hunting submarines in the Atlantic, and standing up to relentless air attacks in the Pacific. Told through vivid first-hand accounts of life onboard, it reveals what it was like to be a sailor navigating, patrolling, and fighting in the largest theatre of the war - the vast oceans.