This is the story of a destroyer of the Royal Navy, and of those that serve in her, which is dive-bombed in the Battle of Crete. Among those of her survivors who are able to reach the Carley float are Captain Edward Kinross, Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy and Ordinary Seaman "Shorty" Blake. As they cling to the float, exhausted and wounded, we see through the memories of those characters, their families and their home lives interwoven and dominated by their ship.
