H.M.S. Ulysses

My grandfather was a Master Mariner - qualified in both steam and sail - and he was also a captain on these Murmansk convoys on a merchant vessel. There was no armour plate for him or rapid-fire Oerlikon guns, just a few out-dated machines guns, and the selfish hope that it would happen to someone else. He could not outrun the bombers or the torpedo, a little zig-zagging was the most he could manage, and pray that his colleagues in the destroyers and other warships would look after them, and that his engineer would keep the steam pressure up. His enemies were the German Navy and AirForce, and the incessant Arctic weather. There was no hiding place, or port of respite, the supplies had to get through, the ammunition, oil, guns and tanks - the bricks and mortar of war. If the merchant ships sank, soldiers were left unable to fight or planes could not take off - these thoughts were always in the sailors' minds. It was always the sacrifice of the few for the good of the many. The crews of these warships were the forgotten heroes, toiling in the cold, damp, dark chambers of these warships, stoking the boilers, minding the pumps, carrying the ammunition; knowing that in the event of a leak, the hatches would be sealed above them, and the would drown or suffocate, whilst they were separated from torpedoes and gunshells by a thin layer of steel, instant death was a second away. The admirals and captains got the fame and credit, but it was paid for by the flesh and blood of the ratings and those marines who volunteered to serve aboard. This book just tells it like it was.

MacLean's first novel, this is easily his best. It is a little different than his usual adventure-thrillers. This is a serious book about the naval war of World War II. The North Atlantic convoy runs saw some of the highest casualties during the war and MacLean puts the reader squarely in the middle of that icy Nordic hell. What happens when men are pushed far too far makes for some of the most gripping reading around.

MacLean's HMS Ulysses is a classic book of man against man but more importantly, man against the sea. Set in the brutal Murmansk Run, this book is an account of the men of a ship marked out from the rest of the Royal Navy by a resistance to discipline. The crew is rebelling against mindless authority but is still ready to do its duty - along the lines of the great Mutiney of 1797, when ships of the Royal Navy effectively deposed brutal and mindless officers but always maintained that it would up anchor and fight any attackers. The men of Ulysses strike me as linear descendants of the sailors fighting Napoleon's fleet. There is a great cross section of British society in the officers and men of Ulysses; from aristocratic flag officers to gentleman rankers in the lower rates. Petty tyrants and officers one would gladly follow anywhere. MacLean has included them all and made it work to perfection in his tale.THe constant theme is not the brutality of war, or men killing each other, but the constant battle with the sea in all its many forms. MacLean's attention to detail gives an almost 'you are there' quality to his writing. The reader feels he is right there on the bow of Ulysses as it gets underway for one more run to Murmansk, to being on the bridge in her ultimate engagement with the German Navy. You can almost feel the bone breaking cold whenever you are placed out on deck. MacLean puts you right in the middle of it.If any of MacLean's books deserve to be made into movies, this is one that is long overdue.I found this book to be one that I didn't want to put down. I felt the charecters were all extremely well developed, men that were almost real. I don't know if MacLean was in the Royal Navy during World War II, but reading this book, I certainly get that impression. This is a classic in Naval literature.

If Alistair Maclean had written only this novel I am sure it would be ranked alongside The Red Badge of Courage, The Naked And The Dead and All Quiet on the Western Front as a classic novel of men at war. Unfortunately his subsequent thrillers, so lightweight by comparison, have meant a lot of people would pass it by. It is a powerful testament to the men who suffered and died on WW2 convoys. Brilliantly told, it evokes strong emotions as it brings you face to face with the cruelty of war, and the devotion to duty that drives men on in spite of hardship and terror.

MacLean never wrote a better novel than this, his first.For those who love the sea and yet respect her fearsome savagry, HMS Ulysses satisfies. Brilliant character development, superb technical detail.HMS Ulysses is a good novel -- more than that, the book pays tribute to both the Royal Navy and the Merchant Marine, and homage in equal measure to all -- German, British, American. It reminds us that brave men sailed the North Atlantic, and that courage knows no boundaries.The book follows the fortunes of a fighting ship whose crew is slowly self-destructing after months of convoy duty in the North Atlantic. They are offered the prospect of a break in the Mediterranean if they can complete one final convoy to Russia through the murderous North Atlantic, and thereby atone for a mutiny that has left two people dead...Their voyage -- and ultimate atonement -- tests the mettle of all on board, and challenges the base assumptions we tend to make about the inherant goodness of Humanity. It will leave you pondering how you would have responded under similar circumstances, and perhaps may leave you less than satisfied with what you learn about yourself.As a tale it compares well with Noel Coward's wartime movie "In Which We Serve". MacLean paints his tale with prosaic pictures that stay in your mind more persistently than any film could. The final image of the HMS Ulysses, with battle ensign flying, stays with you long after you put the book down.MacLean's book reminds us that things like this happened every day, once. It is a reminder of the gallantry of a generation that is fast disappearing.