Reddit mentions of Ramage (Volume 0) (The Lord Ramage Novels (0))

The Ramage series by Dudley Pope is pretty good. On the one hand, it's a lot lighter and less complex than O'Brian, and not particularly well-written, and often quite unrealistic (he's a typical Hornblower-esque hero); but it is fairly entertaining stuff. The first few books are the best ones, starting with Ramage.

The Aubrey Maturin series is great. But it isn't the only good series.

Please also check out:

1. The Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester.
   
   
2. The Bolitho series by Alexander Kent.
   
   
3. The Ramage series by Dudley Pope.
   
   
4. Or the very short, Charles Edgemont series by Jay Worral (newer series...only 3 books so far).
   
   
   I've read all of these. You should start with Horatio Hornblower because it was the series that inspired all these other authors to write their series. Some of these other authors even write in Hornblower to make brief cameo appearances in their own series.