"To spin a dip" is a popular sailor's term meaning "to tell a story"-"salty" because they are of the very essence of the sea. "Who would have thought . . . I'd end up here" is the twelfth volume in the Salty Dips series that began in 1983. It brings together stories told by serving or retired Royal Canadian Navy sailors and details the surprising twists and turns that as members of the Navy they could not have imagined when they signed up to serve, plus a short story of a naval spouse's experience to round out the volume. It is also an invaluable document in Canadian naval history and an absorbing anthology of real-life stories for anyone interested in daily life in the Canadian Navy.

The memories collected here cover a period of immense social and institutional change from post-WWII downsizing and the Korean War through the controversial unification of the armed forces in the late 1960s, the campaign to bring women fully and fairly into the service in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, and the complex new challenges of the post-9/11 world.

Most of the stories in Salty Dips are the frank personal testimonies of the officers and enlisted sailors who participated in this rich history. Although the editors have worked hard to make sure the facts are correct, memories decades after an event can sometimes add a twist or two to a tale, so readers should not expect one hundred percent accuracy. What you can expect is twenty-one fascinating portraits of a changing Canadian Navy and some startling insights into the talents and mindsets that have enabled Canadian men and women to perform extraordinarily under often difficult or dangerous conditions.