Hard SF space opera: a newly-qualified commander and her experimental ship get assigned to what should be routine patrol duties, but turn out to be far more challenging than anyone had expected. As you'd expect from the author, this has a distinctly naval bent, and fans of C. F. Forester or Patrick O'Brian will feel right at home. The science is handled nicely too; while the mechanics of space travel feel a bit contrived in places, it's applied consistently, and the resulting story was interesting enough to keep me firmly glued to my PDA screen.
Recommended. It's available online from the Baen Free Library; Baen's marketing tactics are clearly working, since I'll look forward to buying the next couple of books in the series...
ISBN 067157793X.