HMS Ulysses | Alistair MacLean | I didn't make the Murmansk Run but . . .

HMS Ulysses | Alistair MacLean | MacLean does it right

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HMS Ulysses

	HMS Ulysses Alistair MacLean HARPER COLLINS 1 PAP, 2004 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I didn't make the Murmansk Run but . . .

I didn't make the Murmansk run, but I have lost shipmates due to inclement weather and cold in the North Atlantic.

I didn't make the Murmansk run, but I have had to abandon ship due to enemy action.

I didn't make the Murmansk run, but I lost friends who did.

I didn't make the Murmansk run, but the author of H.M.S.Ulysses (MacLean 1955) certainly did. And he writes with a sureness and skill that makes me realize again what I knew so well during World War II -- that I was blessed and favored by God in not having made that run.

This is NOT a book for those who cherish the fairy tales of Aubrey. It is strong drink for those raised on the pallid tea of Bolitho and Ramage. It will stretch the sensibilities of followers of Hornblower or Fox. It will bring tears and anguish to those who like me recognize what men can go through, do go through, must go through.

Of all the war stories I have read from The Iliad on this is unequivocally the best Three times I have read it and each time with more pain than joy. I have almost a feeling of duty as if in the reading I am paying tribute to the men who made that run and -- in a sense -- exulting in my having been spared from the same.

There have been reviewers who have suggested that this would make a good movie. To them I say nonsense. There is not a producer with the guts to produce it nor an actor who could convincingly play most of the parts. And I doubt if there is an audience with the stomach to watch it.

I didn't make the Murmansk run, but better men than I did -- and they died there.

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MacLean does it right

In his other work, MacLean is an adventure/spy writer. The stories are interesting, some of the work and dialogue cliche'd.

H.M.S Ulysses is different. Much different.

I had an uncle who commanded an escort in the North Atlantic, and went to Murmansk at least once. His view of the book, which he recommended to me, was that it was perfect in every detail.

While there is the suggestion that MacLean puts together everything that could happen to a convoy, and happened to some or many of them at one time or another, into one story, the fact is that it remains perfectly feasible that the convoy is hit by unbelievable Arctic storms, air attacks, submarine attacks, and a surface raider.

Some books write of cold, but if you read this book, you will be cold. Some write of fatigue. If you read this book, your eyes will burn and your face will feel as if it's sliding off your head. Some write of despair. If you read this book, you will understand going on and on despite there being no hope simply because that's what you've been doing.

MacLean's characters make mistakes. The admiral orders a tactical turn which results in several ships being torpedoed. He realizes that his tactics are old and predictable. The Germans set him up because he was not sufficiently aggressive with himself. An officer orders guns to fire before the tompions are out and several men are killed. This is the way it is. War involves, among other things, a sharp and determined enemy who will mess you up and use yourself against you.
Kipling refers to "the drowsy second's lack of thought that costs a dozen dead" in a poem referring to adolescent naval officers in WW I. These are men who should be hospitalized but instead are forced to operate on overdrive every moment of every day with no relief in sight.

In other books, you will read of the immense tonnage of war materials brought to the USSR during the war. The numbers stagger the imagination. This book explains the cost. Good men. Good men, all. All gone.

Read this for entertainment. Read it to know how much you owe to men you've never heard of.

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Epic Tale of Virtue and Courage

Enjoyed this book when I was a young lad and repurchased a few years ago in my forties. Tale of life (and death) on a WW2 Cruiser running a convoy to Russia against overwhelming odds. Read through in one sitting every time. Classic finish.

At the top !

What exceptional story of naval combat! Alistair MacLean gives us the best of his work. The story is that of a Marine convoy, comprising warships and vessels, civilians, merchants, the departure of British coast to Russia. However packs of U-boats attacked the convoy without respite. In the cold, snow, the misery of war, these episodes glaze your blood.

25 years after reading this book, I remember many vivid passages. A book of great emotion.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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