In the summer of 1965, the USS Frank Knox, a destroyer, radar picket ship, on its way from Vietnam to Hong Kong for a much anticipated liberty, runs aground on a reef. Officers and crew must work together to find a way to free the ship, but complications ensue when a body is found after the grounding. The murder investigation complicates the backbreaking efforts that the crew must endure to salvage their ship. A young signalman and an experienced CID investigator work together to solve the murder, amid the chaos and danger of the dying vessel. A massive salvage operation was put into motion to rescue the ship, bringing an enormous task force of ships from the U.S. Seventh Fleet to assist in the effort. New techniques were developed that would be used in the years following the incident, demonstrating the dedication and ingenuity of U.S. naval forces.

It’s summer, 1965, and the USS Frank Knox, DDR-742, a destroyer, radar picket ship, on its way from Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam to the port of Hong Kong for a much anticipated liberty, runs aground on Pratas Reef, just south of Hainan. A massive salvage operation is put into motion to rescue the ship.

In the meantime, crew members have come across a grisly discovery: the body of C.C. Green, Boatswain’s Mate First Class. He was murdered sometime during the night. Clues are scarce, as is information about C.C. Green, but when his past is revealed almost everyone on the ship becomes a suspect.

Young Signalman Third Class R.J. Davis is on board the destroyer tender, Prairie, in Hong Kong when she is called on to proceed to Pratas Reef and salvage the Frank Knox. R.J. and his shipmates are unhappy about the operation because they, too were looking forward to liberty in Hong Kong. Navy investigator William C. Deavers arrives on the scene and begins his investigation into the murder. He recruits R.J., whom he knows from The Haverfield Incident a year earlier, to assist him with the investigation. Thus, the salvage operation and the murder investigation proceed simultaneously.

R.J. takes us back to Longmont, Colorado, and his leave the year before. He went back to attend the wedding of his good friend, Chuck, and his ex-girlfriend, Renee, but when he renews his friendship with the enigmatic Millicent Brewer, things begin to get complicated in a romantic sort of way.

During the salvage operation and murder investigation, the sailors form new friendships, renew old ones, contend with shipboard animosity when news of the Watts riots is broadcast, and help discover the key to solving the murder. The investigation and salvage operations slowly come to conclusions and we learn the reason for the murder of C.C. Green, at the hand of someone no one would have suspected. R.J. concludes his relationship with Millicent by mail, and sets his sights to a future when, in five months, he is discharged from the Navy.

R.J. learns about salvation, and that it can come in many forms. He learns first hand about the unfairness of life, and how innocent people can become caught up in the vortex of tragedy.

Rick Ainsworth was born and raised in Denver, Colorado.  A writer from a young age, he wrote stories about what he saw around him, until his mother told him not to say those things about the neighbors!

He was a restless youth and joined the US Navy at 17, serving as a signalman in the Pacific Fleet.  Rick had always wanted to be a “blue-water sailor,” and being assigned to the South China Sea, visiting islands in the US Trust territories, and spending his 21^st birthday ashore in Hong Kong fit that description.  We hope someday to persuade him to write an account of that evening.

After four years in the Navy, he settled in Southern California and was educated at Citrus College and LaVerne College (now University of LaVerne). After many years in the mortgage business in Orange County, CA, where he was president of the Orange County Mortgage Brokers Assn, he and his wife moved to the wide open skies of Nevada.  It was here he published his first two novels, both based on his experiences as a young man in the Navy.  His first novel, Thunder and Storm: The Haverfield Incident, was awarded the 2007 Indie Excellence Award for Historical Fiction and was a finalist for the Best Books 2006 Historical Fiction award. Mr. Ainsworth’s second novel, Murder on Pratas Reef, was released September, 2007 and was a finalist for the Best Books 2007 Historical Fiction award.

Rick has written 20 novels, including a series of detective/police procedural stories called the Deavers Files, a political thriller, American Dictator, a trilogy, and several other exciting stories. He has also written several essays on lessons of American history, geared toward younger readers.

He currently resides in Henderson, NV with his wife, Therese, and their dachshunds.  Rick enjoys cooking, reading and playing with the dogs, as well as watching football – especially Notre Dame!