The Channel was restless.
Grey swells rolled beneath a sky the color of hammered lead, rain threatening at the horizon.
Along its width steamed the might of Britain, columns of cruisers and destroyers fanning around the bulk of the troop transports.
The Royal Navy had done this before. For centuries it had moved men and materiel across waters that belonged to the Crown by right and tradition.
Though in 1914 they suffered setbacks at the hands of the Kaiserliche Marine, today they were confident they would succeed in their goals.
Signals flickered across the decks, semaphore arms wheeling, lamps pulsing.
Engines pounded at flank speed as troopships loaded with infantry and supply convoys steamed toward the French coast.
The Admiralty had ordered haste; France was bleeding, and if the Republic's ports collapsed under German bombardment, Britain would have no foothold left on the continent.
