A frigate command for Mark Nialls. Can he pull together the disgruntled crew of HMS Hero and give hot pursuit to a gun-running coaster?
A KGB official in North Africa offers to defect to British Intelligence and HMS Hero undertakes a dangerous operation.
HMS Hero sets out on an important exercise but, unbeknown to Nialls, tempers and temperatures are rising in the engine room. Engineering Mechanic Cutler has a score to settle with the chief of his watch - and the clash reverberates throughout the ship.
PO Willows has a bright future, but his past holds a dark secret.
The drop is an old Navy custom : the officer who has responsibility for victualling a ship has a lot of friends-friends who are willing to pay.
HMS Hero finds an abandoned freighter, and a life-or-death situation ...
Submarine Commander Aubrey believes that Nialls is responsible for a family tragedy, and Nialls is worried that Aubrey will use the detection exercise to further his vendetta. But then the submarine bottoms and a greater tragedy seems all too possible.
HMS Hero enters a North African port on a courtesy visit, and becomes the centre of a political intrigue that shakes the very structure of the balance of Middle East power.
MAA Heron comes face to face with the march of time and with Commander 'Murky' Murton, and it seems that Hero's home-coming will be less than happy.
HMS Hero is ordered to land a Royal Marines raiding party to blow up an enemy radar station. The Marines, under the young Lieutenant Palfrey, are determined to succeed; but even the best-laid plans ...
On a NATO exercise, Lt Palfrey has killed a man and escaped from custody. A manhunt ensues, and Nialls wrangles over jurisdiction, hoping for a Naval trial - if Palfrey is taken alive.
In an age of terrorism and guerrilla warfare, Nialls knows that he may be ordered at any time to turn his guns on another vessel. But never had he thought that the other ship might be a British naval unit.
S/Lt Penn has been paid by the Navy to take a Cambridge degree and must now serve for five years or refund his fees. But Penn has other ideas ...
HMS Hero is delayed sailing for five hours. Nialls predicts it is not ' the end of the world,' but events conspire to revise his opinion ...
An airliner ditches in the sea and Hero is diverted to pick up survivors. Nialls finds himself not only at the centre of a harrowing rescue operation, but enmeshed in a web of international intrigue.
A time of soul-searching for Beaumont, as the lures of a new career and an old girlfriend test his loyalties to the Navy, and to Nialls.
On distant waters patrol in the Arctic Ocean, "Hero" intercepts a message about a mutiny on board a British trawler...
L/S Steele is a newly-married, ambitious officer-candidate; AB Radcliffe is a disillusioned, dis-rated ex-Petty Officer. They are old shipmates, and now they meet again on a messdeck in Hero.
A high-ranking German politician joins HMS Hero for exercises at sea. No one can discover why he asked specifically for Hero; but soon there are more urgent questions to be answered.
Hero's continued lack of success in anti-submarine warfare exercises against HM Submarine Ovid rattle Captain Glenn's self-confidence and cause increasing tension between him and his officers. Ovid's captain and Glenn's old friend, Commander Tremayne, offers to set up a new exercise and make it into more of a learning experience for Glenn, but the constant changes in the training program and Glenn's apparent lack of concern for his crew lead to a showdown between him and his first lieutenant, Lt. Commander Beaumont.
With Commander Glenn now in charge of HMS Hero the ship prepares for a naval inspection. Assisting Rear Admiral Staunton in this task is Mark Nialls, formally much respected captain of HMS Hero. Nialls and Glenn have a slight rivalry between them so Nialls is looking forward to winding Glenn up with the Naval tasks associated with the inspection. He wanders over to the ship to sow a few rumours as to what they could be. The tasks, called 'evolutions' help to demonstrate teamwork and initiative as well as being very humorous.
Following a fire at a MoD scientific station, on an island called North Krona HMS Hero is ordered there. They are to deliver bulk feed items and offer any assistance with any rebuilding they may require. When they land there they find the atmosphere rather frosty as one of the five people there is missing. Commander Glenn's investigations into what is going on is helped by the fact that one of the team there is a woman from his past.
Ex Polaris submarine captain Edward Holt is in command of HMS Hero currently on duty in the Hong Kong area. In this episode he welcomes aboard his new first officer James Napier who has just flown into Hong Kong to meet the ship. There is local unrest about nuclear testing in the pacific area mainly voiced by Chris Panmuir. A press conference given on board ship by Mr Thomas Meryon MP leads to a challenge being thrown down by outspoken freelance journalist Zoe Carter and a 'protest cruise' in Panmuir's yacht Windsong being undertaken just as a test is about to start.
An executive jet flying a routine trip to Singapore issues a mayday call and is forced to ditch at sea. Captain Holt and the crew of HMS Hero are ordered to investigate. The plane was carrying top secret papers which Hero must try and locate and then take on to Singapore. Once there their attempts to safely hand over the papers result in a lengthy car chase. It is only after successfully evading their pursuers that the full truth of their mission is revealed.
One of the islands in the vicinity of Hong Kong now has a large oil field, to which the UK would like favorable concessions. To show the British presence, HMS Hero drops anchor in the port and Captain Holt and his crew practice their diplomacy ashore. The man with the most influence on the island, a Mr.Zee Khay Lim, Minister for Foreign Affairs presents a difficult challenge for Captain Holt, although it is his daughter Akiko who inadvertently helps to tip the situation in favour of the British.
Whilst watching a naval helicopter exercise HMS Hero rescue a Chinese girl from the water. When they return to Hong Kong it is with the assistance of the police that the mystery starts to unravel. Captain Holt and his guests are invited by wealthy businessman Henry Witzel to an opening of a local youth centre. It is not immediately apparent what the connection is between Witzel and the Chinese girl, now known as local night club singer Lily Tan. When Captain Holt and Zoe Carter do eventually piece the puzzle together it leads to a fairly surprising ending.
HMS Hero is now on its way back from Hong Kong. As they move closer to Portsmouth harbour the ship's crew prepares for shore leave. Amongst preparations Mr. Parsons, the Catering Manager is busy doing the accounts totting up the takings. He retires for the night having made sure all is secure in the catering office. Later that night a break-in is reported the cash tin is found open and James Napier has to undertake and investigation. Whilst trying to learn which of the two main suspects is guilty an ulterior motive to the break-in is discovered.
Having returned from an exercise the HMS Hero crew are needled about the state of their ship by Captain Calder. Captain Holt rebuffs with a challenge of a pulling race across the Portland docks. When Holt's crew win the race by unfair means this starts a friendly rivalry 'war' between the two crews. This includes a master strike by Holt using Zoe Carter's journalistic talents to 'interview' Captain Calder. As the 'war' escalates it's the CNC's daughter Arabella Ledson who plays a part in defusing the situation.
Whilst observing a Russian ship, HMS Hero finds and takes aboard an experimental unexploded mine. With the mine onboard Captain Holt makes plans to sail for Belfast. However his chopper pilot, on a routine flyover of an uninhabited island, spots a man there. The MoD orders Hero back to the island while bomb disposal expert Lieutenant Commander Napier looks after the bomb. Meanwhile a search of the island is conducted to ascertain who if anyone is currently living there. Their search eventually yields the secretive Mr Robertson.
As HMS Hero continues to steam home to Portsmouth, the RAF drop a post package for the crew. For Able Seaman Blane this starts unsettling rumours as to the state of his marriage back in his home village. The timing of this coincides with his imminent CS exams. Captain Holt also has problems when his relationship with journalist Zoe Carter is called into question, to the point of forcing him to consider between Zoe or his career.