In its 160 pages, “Short Sea: Long War” tells the comprehensive World War II story of the Belgian, Dutch and French cross-Channel ships, as well as those of Britain’s railways, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and Coast Lines’ Liverpool and Glasgow fleets. This is the story of 119 merchant vessels, switched from peacetime short sea crossings to diverse naval and military roles during the long war years. The book describes the extraordinary variety of duties these ships performed: they served in more than 40 different roles from blockships to depot ships, as minelayers and netlayers, for helicopter training and radar training, from balloon carrying to landing craft carrying, convoy escorting to convoy rescuing. The book outlines the operations involved, few British amphibious operations in World War II were without some cross-channel ship involvement. The book gives the overall view in clear narrative form, then zooms in with graphic detail on specific events. It contains 132 illustrations, the majority unpublished previously.