At All Costs: How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Mariners Turned the Tide of World War II Hardcover – November 7, 2006

I wanted to be more knowledgeable of WW II convoy operations at the tactical and individual experience level after researching my professional Merchant Marine uncle's death from a U-boat attack in the north Atlantic. Although this book has a good bit of repetition describing the background of individuals, this did not detract sufficiently to rate it less than 5 stars. The story is of a British led convoy to the island of Malta that experiences tremendous losses and great acts of courage in bringing absolutely critical supplies to the island of Malta. I would assume anyone with good knowledge of WW II knows both the strategic importance of Malta early in the war as well as the intense bombing and siege it suffered. This subject is well covered in "At All Costs". The book appears to be thoroughly researched and is absolutely suspenseful. Mr Moses included passages that are jaw dropping in the courage of these men both British and American, as well as the lack of courage in a much smaller number of seaman. As a child I had read a very short story of one of these ships and its' crew's skill, courage and luck in completing the mission but I never imagined the extent of the horror or difficulty in doing so. I did not want the book's story to end.

A very interesting read about the importance of Operation Pedestal and the operation itself. The story covers every aspect of the operation. The author tries to convince the reader that had the operation failed then Hitler would have won the war, but personally, I doubt that. Still a good book though.

War is Hell. Thank God to those men who sailed into hell and came back and to the many who did not come back. Could not put the book down. A must read for those who want to know 'the high cost of freedom.'

This book was an excellent read, and would be rated ten stars if I was given the opportunity. This book shows that by July of 1942, the heavily-bombed island of Malta, attacked on all sides by German and Italian forces from nearby airfields, and their citizens and soldiers close to starvation, their submarines and limited numbers of warplanes desperately low on fuel, was ready to throw in the towel to Axis authorities. Time and time again, Britain would send out supply convoys to relieve the desperate situation on Malta, which was the only thing standing in the way between Rommel's German troops and total victory for them in Egypt, but the few ships that got through without being torpedoed or bombed on the way or being sunk at their own docks before being unloaded, weren't able to give enough for Malta's population.

Finally, a convoy of about 14 merchant ships loaded to the gills with foodstuffs, ammo, and fuel, sailed out from Gibraltar into the dangerous waters of the enemy-held Mediterranean. Escorted by a large fleet of warships, which did little to help the convoy in the end as the convoy came under constant attack by Italian and German submarines, Italian torpedo boats, minefields, and hundreds beyond hundreds of warplanes. One aircraft carrier is sunk by a lucky hit and goes down in just a few minutes within view of the horrified sailors on their ships. Two more major warships sustain heavy damage and have to abort. Cruiser after cruiser are sunk by further attacks, not to mention the merchant ships.

Among the ships in this convoy is the most important one of all, the American tanker SS OHIO. The OHIO gets hit time and time again, forcing the crew to abandon ship numerous times as they fear the fuel will explode. The OHIO gets lower in the water and more battered with each attack, but stubbornly stays afloat. 40 miles outside of Malta, there is little hope the tanker will ever see port, with the engines dead, the rudder blown away, and the waterline now only a couple of feet below her main decks. But thanks to a small group of volunteers who board the ship at the risk of their own lives and a pair of British destroyers that try to take into tow a ship that is at least ten times their size and half-flooded with water, the OHIO prevailed and reached port to the great excitement of the population. Only 3 other merchant ships also manage to reach port, only one of them escaping damage from the German and Italian attacks.

The fuel from the OHIO is able to keep the British aircraft flying in order to bring the war back to the enemy, and for the British submarines to be able to sink a big number of Rommel's supply ships at an alarming rate--so many in fact that Rommel's forces have to pull out of the Battle of El Alamein, the German tanks unable to advance due to the lack of fuel. Malta manages to prevail from the constant bombing attacks that plagued them since June of 1940, and ONE ship and it's crew causes the tide to turn against the Germans and their allies in the Mediterranean and African theaters. But what completely disgusts me is the fate that this ONE ship had, completely forgotten after serving out her role in that convoy.

SS OHIO finally sinks at anchor shortly after the last drop of oil is unloaded from her. She had sustained too much damage for most ships to even stand up to, and stayed afloat longer than anyone expected. The ship that saved the day then is dragged off to the side and serves out the rest of the war as a barracks ship for the tiny Yugoslavian Navy. In 1946, OHIO is towed out to sea, her back broken, and goes down for the final time in deep water where she remains there today, long forgotten and barely a memory. No attempt has been made to recognize this ship for the role she played, as without the assistance of the OHIO in the summer of 1942, Malta would have succumbed to an eventual German invasion, allowing Rommel and his army to march into Cairo. But hopefully, with this book being published, recognition will finally play out and people will remember that it only takes a ship and it's crew to win a war in many ways.

I bought this book for my dad, a WWII Merchant Marine veteran. During and after the war, those in the Merchant Marine were looked down upon as not "real military" because they didn't have guns on their ships. They transported the supplies needed for the war effort and suffered the greatest casualties as targets of the Germans. I visited my dad just a few days after the book arrived at his home, and he had read it cover to cover already! He said that it was a good telling of an important part of turning the tide in the war effort. I recommend this book for an understanding of unhailed heroes.

This is a story about Operation Pedestal, which took place during WWII. It goes through the heroic operation whose goal was to save the island of Malta. If Malta was lost, the allies would have lost WWII for so many reasons (read the book to learn more!). The story is incredible, and it's hard to believe that it's true. If you are interested in the Merchant Marines, this book is really good because it really delves into the contributions the Merchant Marines made to WWII.