HMS Ulysses

This is a punishing read...just a brutal story. Good, but brutal.

A fine thriller. It starts slow, but builds into a nightmare. Very exciting. I still prefer Monsarrat's "The Cruel Sea," for its characterizations and plotting—it is more than a historical thriller.

I thought of Alastair MacLean as a writer of implausible potboilers, but this, his first novel, is not bad at all. MacLean had served on a Dido-class light cruiser on Murmansk runs – including the infamous Convoy PQ17 – so he knew what he was talking about in this account of the fictional HMS Ulysses escorting a convoy to Murmansk. The characters are somewhat stereotypical – kindly captain, dedicated surgeon, brave able seamen, but the accounts of the variety of ways people can die horribly on a warship in the Arctic ring true. The German attackers are portrayed as just as brave as the defenders; the Americans are given a polite nod. My copy was a cheap trade paperback; a larger format would have made the ship layout in the front papers easier to understand. (It would be useful to copy this and blow it up to a larger format so you could keep track of who’s dying where). Worth at least 3 stars, I think.

Full of detail, the sort of book that almost splashes water, or in this case freezing ice over you as you read.

The crew and the Dido Class cruiser, are sacrificed on the Murmansk run. This is an example of very competent genre fiction, and could be seen as the ancestor of books like "We All Died at Breakaway Station" in Science fiction.

A gripping, frustrating, and involving story of British Naval convoys during World War II. Most of the characters are well-developed and believable, and the technical aspects are not overwhelming. Good read.

Without doubt one of the best - if not the best - books written about the perils faced by the seafaring men of the Arctic convoys sailing from Britain to USSR in World War-II.

MacLean himself served on a warship in World War-II, so he knows what he is talking about.

One of my favorite books of all time.

Highly recommended.

One of the first grown-up books I read as a teenager (along with numerous Desmond Bagleys). I must have read it once every couple of years since!

It can be a bit mawkish at times but, overall, it's a great study of men being pushed to their limits and beyond. Yes, it's the story of everything that can go wrong going wrong - and then some - but it also shows men rising above their limitations and exhibiting real love for their fellow crewmen. The ending brings tears to my eyes every time.

One of my top 3 war novels of the last century.

Apparently, there's a BBC radio adaptation starring Derek Jacobi and Donald Sinden - 2 knights of the boards. I must try to find that.

Try comparing this with Forester's "The Ship".
There are some remarkable similarities.
Nonetheless MacLean has written a rattling good sea yarn.

One of the greatest pieces of naval fiction to come out of World War II. A must read for anyone interested in war at sea.

Although not quite as well known now as he was in his heyday, Alistair Maclean was once the undisputed king of thriller-writers. Even now, titles like The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare are still famous as films, creaky and (endearingly!) old-fashioned though those look today. However, HarperCollins in the UK has recently been reissuing the books, and here's a surprise: the books stand up /just fine/.
HMS Ulysses was Maclean's debut: to my mind, it's one of his absolute best. Although the book takes a couple of chapters to get going, once the Ulysses sets out on her fateful mission to the Arctic Seas, to protect vital supply-carrying convoy-ships from the predatory attacks of German U-boats, it's almost impossible not to find oneself taken along for the ride. A passionate, desperate story about the horrors of sea warfare and the incredible bravery and endurance of those who took part, this is a truly thrilling and engrossing read. Highly recommended.

and yes, it was one of my favorites a few years ago. I haven't read it for a long time, so I don't know if I would like it as much now.