I've been reading David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" off and on for a while and when there was a mention of the David's RCN series in the Space Opera thread, I thought I give it a go.
Picked up
With The Lightnings from the Baen Free Library and started reading. A slow start with all the introductions and story building, but by the time the second half of the book got started, I was fully involved. There was something faintly familiar but I put the thought aside, as I read a lot of space opera. Then I discovered that David was a big fan of Patrick O'Brian and his
Aubrey-Maturin series of which I've read a couple books. The genesis of the RCN series was from those books. Aha! Not copies by any means, but if you've read any of the O'Brian series you'll catch the common themes.
Finished "With The Lightnings" last night and already picked up the next two in the series, also available from the Baen Free Library.