HMS Ulysses(novel)

Not to be confused withUlysses (novel).

HMS Ulysses

First edition
Author	Alistair MacLean
Illustrator	John Rose
Language	English
Publisher	Collins
Publication date	1955
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	357 pp (1994 paperback)
Followed by	The Guns of Navarone

HMS Ulysseswas thedebut novelby Scottish authorAlistair MacLean.Originally published in1955,it was also released byFontana Booksin 1960. MacLean's experiences in theRoyal Navyduring World War II provided the background and theArctic convoystoMurmanskprovided the basis for the story, which was written at a publisher's request after he'd won a short-story competition the previous year.

Some editions carry a prefatory note disavowing any connection between the fictional cruiser HMSUlyssesand theU-classdestroyerof the same name.

Synopsis

The novel features HMSUlysses,alight cruiserthat is well armed and among the fastest ships in the world. Her crew is pushed well beyond the limits of endurance and the book starts in the aftermath of amutiny.Ulyssesputs to sea again as theflagshipof FR-77, a vitalconvoyheading forMurmansk.They are beset by numerous challenges: an unusually fierce Arctic storm,Germanships andU-boats,as well as air attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five.Ulyssesis sunk in a failed attempt to ram a German cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes events in which BritishG-classdestroyerHMSGlowwormandHMSJervis Bay,anarmed merchant cruiser,sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.

Background

Alistair Maclean had written a short story, which was published to acclaim. A literary agent asked him to write a novel and Maclean originally refused, believing there was no future in it. However his boat business failed so he decided to write a novel. The book was based on real life convoys Maclean had participated in when a sailor aboard HMSRoyalist.

Maclean later described his writing process:

I drew a cross square, lines down representing the characters, lines across representing chapters 1-15. Most of the characters died, in fact only one survived the book, but when I came to the end the graph looked somewhat lopsided, there were too many people dying in the first, fifth and tenth chapters so I had to rewrite it, giving an even dying space throughout. I suppose it sounds cold blooded and calculated, but that's the way I did it.

Ships featured inHMS Ulysses

HMSUlyssesis similar to the realDido-classcruisers, MacLean had served inHMSRoyalistof that class. TheUlysseswas repeatedly sent onArctic convoyswithout rest. Commander Brooks describes it as the "only ship in theHome Fleetequipped for carrier command ".

HMSDuke of Cumberlandis aKing George V-classbattleship. A boarding party ofRoyal MarinesfromDuke of Cumberlandwas sent to put down a stokers' "mutiny" onUlyssesbefore the beginning of the book. Lieutenant Nicholls complains that theDuke of Cumberlandis useless and never deployed to escort convoys.

HMSStirlingis an obsolete World War I-eraC-classcruiser of theCeressub-group (referred to asCardiff Classin the novel).Stirlingis virtually untouched during most of the novel, until the final act whereStirlingis repeatedly attacked bydive bombers.

HMSDefender,Invader,WrestlerandBlue Ranger,are smaller American-builtescort carriersconverted from merchant ships (AvengerorAttacker-classes). Accidents and enemy attacks conspire to remove all the carriers from service before the convoy is even halfway to Russia.Defenderin particular is rendered inoperable due to a freak accident: theflight deckis partially torn off during a heavy storm.

Smaller escorts included HMSSirrus,anS-classdestroyer,the most newly built warship in the escort group. HMSVectraand HMSViking,World War I-vintageV and W-classdestroyers. HMSPortpatrick,aTown-classdestroyer, another obsolete World War I design. HMSBaliol,a Type 1Hunt-classdestroyer described as "diminutive" and completely unseaworthy for the harsh weather of the North Atlantic.

Furthermore, there is HMSNairn,aRiver-classfrigate,HMS Eager, a fleetminesweeper,and HMSGannet,aKingfisher-classsloop,nicknamedHuntley and Palmerdue to her boxysuperstructureresembling a biscuit tin.

Reception

The book sold a quarter of a million copies in hardback in Britain in the first six months of publication. It went on to sell millions more.

Literary significance and criticism

The novel received good critical notices, with a number of reviewers putting it in the same class as two other 1950s classic tales of World War II at sea,Herman Wouk'sThe Caine MutinyandNicholas Monsarrat'sThe Cruel Sea.

Allusions/references from other works

The same background of the World War IIMurmansk convoys,with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, appears in Dutch novelistJan de Hartog'sThe Captain(1967). Comparisons may also be drawn with Wolfgang Ott's 1957 novelSharks and Little Fish,written from the viewpoint of a sailor who serves on surface ships and submarines of the World War II German navy, theKriegsmarine.

The use of ship names derived fromclassical mythologyis a well-established practice of theRoyal Navy.However, commentator Bill Baleysuggests that the choice ofUlyssesmight have been less than accidental. "Unlike inJoyce's famous book, there are here no specific scenes clearly reminiscent of specific ones inHomer'sOdyssey;but overall, it was Homer's Ulysses who gave Western culture the enduring template of a long and harrowing sea voyage where peril waits at every moment and of which few of the crew would survive to see the end. "

References toHMS Ulyssesin other works

Soviet novelistValentin Pikulchose a quotation from the novel as an epigraph to hisRequiem for Convoy PQ-17.

Film, TV and theatrical adaptations

Abandoned film projects

Film rights were bought byRobert ClarkofAssociated British Picture Corporationin the 1950s for £30,000. He arranged for a script to be written byR. C. Sherriff,who had just adaptedThe Dambustersfor Associated British; because of the amount of naval detail included, it proved troublesome for Sherriff. However, ABPC never made the film.Another proposed film version was announced by theRank Organisationat theCannes Film Festivalin 1980 but then was abandoned when Rank pulled out of filmmaking.

HMS Ulysseshas never been filmed but it was adapted by Nick McCarty for aBBC Radio 4play of the same name which was first aired on 14 June 1997 in theClassic Playseries. It starred SirDerek Jacobias Captain Vallery and SirDonald Sindenas Admiral Starr.

Comic adaptation

Japanese Manga

HMS Ulysseswas highly acclaimed and popular in Japan. The book was serialized inWeekly Shōnen Sundayas JapaneseMangaarranged byKai Takizawaand illustrated byTaiyou Noguchiin 1970.But the Manga has never been published as theTankōbon.

See also

• Arctic convoys of World War II
• Convoy PQ 17,an Arctic convoy almost destroyed by the Germans in 1942
• JW 58,the convoy MacLean sailed with onOperation Tungsten
• The Captain (novel)with the same background

External links

• Book review at AlistairMacLean.com