In the wake of a shipboard fire where Petty Officer Alex Sievers is severely injured and a shipmate is killed, he arrives in Great Lakes, Illinois, to take command of a misfit company of recruits competing for the Double Salute. A highly esteemed naval tradition is restored to a modern-day navy in an effort to regard the past as a path to the future. Using the wooden ships of old as a tool during recruit training, a steel will is forged in the fire of adversity into seagoing warriors of the present. 

Sievers recognizes the restoration of the Double Salute as an opportunity to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a commissioned officer. To realize his dream, he must find inner healing to overcome his fear and guilt that threatens to consume him from within. He must also resist the advances of an ex-girlfriend who longs to rekindle an old flame and snuff out his current relationship with his wife, Cathreen. 

Sievers must find a way to overcome another commander he once called a friend who has stacked his company with the strongest and brightest of incoming recruits in an effort to destroy him. 

A thrill-packed ride of tradition, honor, and patriotism, Double Salute culminates with the mass conflagration where only the strong survive.