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Alistair MacLean

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H.M.S. Ulysses Paperback – June 7, 2011

by Alistair MacLean (Author)

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H.M.S. Ulysses by MacLean, Alistair. Published by Sterling,2011, Binding: Paperback Reprint Edition

Print length

328 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Sterling
Publication date

June 7, 2011
Dimensions

5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

1402790341
ISBN-13

978-1402790348
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sterling; Reprint edition (June 7, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1402790341
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1402790348
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,052,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #20,320 in War Fiction (Books)

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2,094 ratings

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Alistair MacLean
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Alistair Stuart MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacGill-Eain; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. His works include The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare – all three were made into popular films. He also wrote two novels under the pseudonym Ian Stuart.
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Peter Joyce
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

2,094 global ratings

5 star		65%
4 star		20%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Edward J. Mcdonnell

A book that provides a role model for fourteen-year-old boys

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 14, 2023

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Great character development of the hero of the story. I read this book almost fifty years ago. Re-reading 'H.M.S. Ulysses' so many years later proved to me that this war-novel is timeless as it stands the test of time. Needless to say, at sixty-five years old, ¡I still want to be just like CPT Vallery when I grow up!

One person found this helpful

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James Kennedy

Product was as advertized

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 2, 2023

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What it was REALLY like on the allied convoys to Murmansk during WW II!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 17, 2022

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I've read any number of stories about what it was like for the sailors and seamen escorting those allied convoys carrying war materiel to the Russians during WW II -- but this story really digs into the hearts and feelings of those members of the crew of HMS Ulysses as they faced the despicable weather and the determination of the Germans to prevent them from successfully convoying supplies and war materiel to the hard-beset (and always suspicious) Russians.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 8, 2019

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This was Alistair MacLean's first novel, as I understand it, and it is still considered by many to be one of his best. Rather than the intrigue, double-crossing, and deduction that mark many of his later tales, it is first and foremost a war story. HMS Ulysses is a light cruiser, a variant on the Dido class, with some features of the later, similar Black Prince class units. She has seen a great deal of action on the northern convoy routes to Murmansk, and is wearing out. Not just the ship's components, but her crew. As MacLean describes them, Ulysses' crew is not the indestructible band of heroes from the stereotypical war movie, but real men, who have been exposed to too much physical and mental stress, and have seen too much war. The terminology of PTSD was still in the future when the novel was written, and definitely so for the era (about 1943) in which it takes place, but MacLean lets us see the human cost of making war. The ship's Doctor, and even the ship's Captain, and the Squadron Commander, appeal to higher authority -- Ulysses and her men need a rest. But the Admiral will have none of it -- apparently, at his level, ships and men are expendable pieces he can move about on his chess board. He will use Ulysses -- if necessary, he will use her up. So off she goes again, as the force flag for a squadron which will take up the escort of the next Murmansk convoy, taking over from a US force at a predesignated point. A German minisub attack on the ship while still in port, and a near-fatal accident as she is getting underway, may be seen as omens... as may a terrible storm that damages several of the squadron, requiring those vessels to return to base. Before the major action is ever joined, Ulysses' forces are depleted. And, once the Royal Navy vessels have joined up with the convoy, the attacks commence, by sea and air. One by one, the other ships of the squadron are lost. Ships explode, dropping sailors into icy waters where survival times are measured in short minutes. Should an escort pause to pick up survivors, she makes herself an ideal target for a lurking U-boat, so many times the crew of HMS Ulysses must watch brave men die. This, and the repeated German attacks, cannot help but fray the nerves of her crew, and overstress them physically. Morale plummets with the unexpected death of a major character, but still the crew must go on. And, somehow, they do... until the tragic but heroic last stand. This is a marvelous novel, which apparently was never made a movie -- perhaps because there are no longer any Dido class cruisers left afloat to serve as a shooting set.

20 people found this helpful

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M. Thompson

Astonishingly great action war at sea book of the North Atlantic in WWII....

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 14, 2021

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Literally couldn't put it down. Strongly recommended for mature readers, war is not a game and the consequences of all out naval warfare in the naval convoys of World War II was never an easy trip. My Uncle Ray for 45 years never spoke of the 5 ships torpedoed out from under him in Torpedo Alley in the same area as this book portrays, then the last time he came, for his brother's funeral ( my father also a WWII hero, as all 5 of The Fighting Thompson's were), he spoke to me of the naval terror and exhilaration of being in the Merchant Marine, combining supplies to Russia in the below zero weather, waves crashing over the decks " like sheets of ice, and fighting the enemy in the sky and under it", he told me because I too am a veteran, and like all of my uncles served honorably and returned, as the men of so many ships, planes and land warfare did ..of did not. This novel, while fictional, was written by an experienced naval veteran, it captures the real feelings veterans feel on active duty, it is not something you armchair generals will ever forget...I hope you never have to do it yourself. ( my family portrait is immortalized at the Pacific War Museum in Texas), I served long after they did but my Uncle Ray's words, his fear, his terror but also his Honor and Courage are mirrored in this Book. Read it.

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Michael J. Myers

An action novelist finding his first legs---writing a pretty good story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 12, 2020

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Maclean did serve on a cruiser on the Murmansk Run, although it was later in the war. i read an interview of Maclean done later in his writing career. He said that created a chart or grid of the characters in his novels. The column across the top would have the names of the characters. The column on the side would have the chapters or incidents in the novel. That's handy because in HMS Ulysses a number of the characters die---in fact in the first draft of the novel all of the characters were dead by the end of the book. Well that won't do. He rewrote the ending so that a few of the crew of HMS Ulysses survived.

That grid is a handy tool that should be used by a lot of novelists. It's embarassing if a character who exits (leves down, gets blown up , murdered etc) in Chapter 5 reappears unannounced in Chapter 10.

In any case HMS Ulysses is a good and enjoyable read.

One person found this helpful

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Michael Eaton

A Staggering, Tragic, Relentlessly Real Tale of The Horrors of War

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 24, 2020

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It is amazing that this was Alistair MacClean’s FIRST novel! It was justly recognized as an exceptional work of literary art when first published. You may be reading this book on a hot beach with a glass festooned with a little umbrella, but you will soon feel the unending dark, sunless skies, the constant soaking rain and snow, the temperature and wind which can freeze bare skin in seconds, the unending hours of work and vigilance with few moments of cold sleep, the constant thrashing of literal mountains of water tossing you around and threatening to drown you, the fear of mechanical sharks seeking to send you to a burning hell, the loss of good and brave men, close friends, and the horror of watching hundreds of men and great ships explode into huge pyres of flame, and the constant, prayerful hope of somehow making it to safe harbor. Read this classic novel and remember that it is based on direct experience, that events such as those described in this book really happened — month after endless years.

3 people found this helpful

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T. Leadbeater

Homage

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 23, 2021

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I read Maclean as teenager in late 60s and thought I would retry him in my sixties. I wasn’t aware of his one and chose it because I recently obtained from MoD an Arctic Star medal posthumous for my dad who served on convoy escort. HMS Volage. There is a website with everyone who served on any convoy. The medal was created in 2013 after long oblivion and campaign for recognition. I found out about it from Kristen Scott Thomas programme in Who Do You Think You Are, recommended.

The book is relentless and gripping. The constant fear of death from cold and battle is real. The ending poignant and well done. It does not have later thrillerish twists and is more Iliad than Odyssey but obvious why he chose the name.

I often think of that generation and that I am here with my kids because he survived.

10 people found this helpful

Richard

A brilliant novel of courage and hardship.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 28, 2022

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I first read "HMS Ulysses" around 60 years ago, at the age of 14, and since then have probably read it another four or five times. The level of detail in descriptions of the ship, its crew and its last voyage could only be achieved by an author with first-hand experience of the war at sea - and MacLean is totally convincing. His first book and, in my opinion, easily his best. No doubt I'll be reading it a couple of times more before I'm finished...

2 people found this helpful

Chivz

Best book of its genre

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 13, 2022

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HMS Ulysses is a fantastic book. WW2 Royal Navy novels are often very hit and miss but this novel is frankly superb and the best of its kind. Set during the Russia convoys MacLean gives us a tremendous cat and mouse chase as the Ulysses attempts to shepherd the convoy through submarine wolf packs, pursuing Cruisers and icy sea's knowing that somewhere ahead the mighty Scharnhorst is laying in wait. It is fantastic. I first read it when I was fifteen and now at 62 I have a new copy as the old one is worn out after 15+ reads of this great adventure. For me this was Alistair MacLeans best. Just buy a copy and read it, you won't regret it!

Tel

Fantastic Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 26, 2020

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This is one of my all time favourite books written by one of my favourite authors. MAclean didnt always write good sytories, but this is his finest. I served in the Merchant Navy with a Radio officer who had been on the Russian convoys and he said that this was the most accurate depiction he’d ever read. Brutal, dehumanising, violent but a brilliant read.

7 people found this helpful

Crookedmouth

Cruel sea

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 2, 2015

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Royal Navy cruiser, HMS Ulysses, leads a convoy of destroyers, carriers and merchant ships deep into the Arctic Circle, heading for Murmansk with vital supplies for a beleaguered Russian Army. Waiting for them is a U-boat wolf pack and some of the worst winter weather of the war. Their orders are to get through at any cost but no-one can predict just how high that cost will turn out to be.

Alistair MacLean's debut novel is arguably also his best and it ranks easily alongside Monsarratt's "The Cruel Sea" as an exemplary account of the Allied Convoy War. Taking his inspiration from his own extensive experience as an RN sailor in the Atlantic and Arctic convoys there is a strong feeling of verisimilitude to this story; but the sheer quality of his writing is also worthy of note.

The novel introduces the Ulysses as a ship with a broken and troubled crew, close to mutiny and exhausted beyond recall from previous forays into the Arctic. However, MacLean continues to build the pressure on the ship by throwing at it the most appalling weather conditions and the privations of a ruthless, determined and resourceful enemy. The attrition rate is high, both in terms of the ships and the physical and mental health of their crews. MacLean does occasionally resort to some common war story tropes and cliches and one or two frankly unlikely coincidences in order to maintain the tension and atmosphere. This is perhaps a forgivable crime because "HMS Ulysses" really is an unrelentingly compelling and indeed deeply moving page-turner of a novel. One wonders whether there is at least /some/ exaggeration for dramatic effect: on the other hand I worried that perhaps there was none and that the navy and merchant crews really did suffer as terribly as MacLean recounts here. Either way, this is an impressive piece of story telling and a true "must-read".

16 people found this helpful

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H.M.S. Ulysses Paperback – June 7, 2011

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