The Battleship Boys at Sea; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy

It's 1910, and two teenage boys from nowhere special are about to find out what it really means to wear the uniform. Dan Davis and Sam Hickey don't have connections or prospects, but they've got something more useful: a stubborn dream and the nerve to chase it through the crowded streets of New York City, straight into a Navy recruiting station. What follows is the rough and often funny education of two boys who quickly discover that nautical adventure and actual Navy life are very different creatures. From botched orders to brawls with hardened sailors who don't appreciate wide-eyed newcomers, Dan and Sam bumble their way toward something like manhood. This is sturdy old-fashioned adventure fiction, the kind that never pretends life is easy but insists it's worth the effort. The book captures a moment when the Navy was still small and romantic, when a boy could walk off the street and into history.