"A Navy captain near the end of a decorated career, Stephen Rensselaer is disciplined, intelligent, and determined always to do what's right. In defending the development of a new variant of warship, he makes an enemy of the President of the United States, who assigns him to command the doomed line's only prototype--Athena, Patrol Coastal 15--with the intent to humiliate a man who should have been an admiral. Rather than resign, Rensselaer takes the...