Dishonour in Denmark (The Call of the Sea, #10)

The Royal Navy is larger than it has ever been – nearly eight hundred ships and one hundred and twenty thousand men – and it is too small for the tasks demanded of it if the war is to be won.

British hardwood forests have been destroyed, with the exception of the untouchable New Forest. It is impossible to build enough ships to make up for losses, let alone to expand. At least twenty of the ships at sea are unfit for service, may well sink in the next storm. ... more>>