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HMS Ulysses (novel)
Encyclopedia
HMS Ulysses was the first novel
by Scottish
author Alistair MacLean
, and ultimately, one of his most popular. Originally published in 1955
, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean’s personal experiences in the Royal Navy
during World War II
provided the background material and the ill-fated PQ-17
convoy to Murmansk provided the basis for the story.
, one of a unique type similar to the real Dido-class
s cruiser
s (MacLean had served in of that class), extremely 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 a mutiny
on board. Ulysses puts to sea again to escort a vital convoy
FR-77 (based on the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17
) heading for Murmansk
. Predictably, they are beset by numerous plot elements: an unusually fierce Arctic storm, German
ships and U-boat
s, as well as airborne attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five. Ulysses herself is lost, fittingly, in a failed attempt to ram an attacking cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes true stories in which British G-class destroyer
and HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser, sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.
In what became a trait of MacLean's style, the book uses a relatively predictable set of events to paint moving portrayals of the crew and the human aspects of the war. His heroes are not especially motivated by ideals, they rarely excel at more than one task, they are outfoxed by a respectable enemy. It is only their resilience, as they redefine the word, that pushes this bunch of seamen to genuine acts of heroism. The realism of the descriptions, the believable motivations of the characters and the simplicity of the line of events make the story all the more credible, though the number of coincidental accidents that plague the crew are startling, robbing them of any real victory.
's The Caine Mutiny
and Nicholas Monsarrat
's The Cruel Sea
. http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=29386.
, with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, appears in Dutch novelist Jan de Hartog
's The Captain
(1967). Comparisons may be also be drawn with Wolfgang Ott's 1957 novel Sharks and Little Fish
, written from the viewpoint of a sailor who serves surface ships and submarines of the World War II German navy, the Kriegsmarine
.
The use of ship names derived from classical mythology
is a well-established practice of the Royal Navy
. However, commentator Bill Baley suggests that the specific choice of Ulysses
might have been less than accidental. "Unlike in Joyce
's famous book, there are here no specific scenes clearly reminiscent of specific ones in Homer
's Odyssey
; 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."
play of the same name which was first aired on 14 June 1997 in the Classic Play series. It starred Sir Derek Jacobi
as Captain Vallery and Sir Donald Sinden
as Admiral Starr. http://www.promenadeproductions.com/archive/hms-ulysses.html
HMS Ulysses was the first novel
by Scottish
author Alistair MacLean
, and ultimately, one of his most popular. Originally published in 1955
, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean’s personal experiences in the Royal Navy
during World War II
provided the background material and the ill-fated PQ-17
convoy to Murmansk provided the basis for the story.
, one of a unique type similar to the real Dido-class
s cruiser
s (MacLean had served in of that class), extremely 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 a mutiny
on board. Ulysses puts to sea again to escort a vital convoy
FR-77 (based on the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17
) heading for Murmansk
. Predictably, they are beset by numerous plot elements: an unusually fierce Arctic storm, German
ships and U-boat
s, as well as airborne attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five. Ulysses herself is lost, fittingly, in a failed attempt to ram an attacking cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes true stories in which British G-class destroyer
and HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser, sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.
In what became a trait of MacLean's style, the book uses a relatively predictable set of events to paint moving portrayals of the crew and the human aspects of the war. His heroes are not especially motivated by ideals, they rarely excel at more than one task, they are outfoxed by a respectable enemy. It is only their resilience, as they redefine the word, that pushes this bunch of seamen to genuine acts of heroism. The realism of the descriptions, the believable motivations of the characters and the simplicity of the line of events make the story all the more credible, though the number of coincidental accidents that plague the crew are startling, robbing them of any real victory.
's The Caine Mutiny
and Nicholas Monsarrat
's The Cruel Sea
. http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=29386.
, with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, appears in Dutch novelist Jan de Hartog
's The Captain
(1967). Comparisons may be also be drawn with Wolfgang Ott's 1957 novel Sharks and Little Fish
, written from the viewpoint of a sailor who serves surface ships and submarines of the World War II German navy, the Kriegsmarine
.
The use of ship names derived from classical mythology
is a well-established practice of the Royal Navy
. However, commentator Bill Baley suggests that the specific choice of Ulysses
might have been less than accidental. "Unlike in Joyce
's famous book, there are here no specific scenes clearly reminiscent of specific ones in Homer
's Odyssey
; 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."
play of the same name which was first aired on 14 June 1997 in the Classic Play series. It starred Sir Derek Jacobi
as Captain Vallery and Sir Donald Sinden
as Admiral Starr. http://www.promenadeproductions.com/archive/hms-ulysses.html
HMS Ulysses was the first novel
by Scottish
author Alistair MacLean
, and ultimately, one of his most popular. Originally published in 1955
, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean’s personal experiences in the Royal Navy
during World War II
provided the background material and the ill-fated PQ-17
convoy to Murmansk provided the basis for the story.
, one of a unique type similar to the real Dido-class
s cruiser
s (MacLean had served in of that class), extremely 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 a mutiny
on board. Ulysses puts to sea again to escort a vital convoy
FR-77 (based on the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17
) heading for Murmansk
. Predictably, they are beset by numerous plot elements: an unusually fierce Arctic storm, German
ships and U-boat
s, as well as airborne attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five. Ulysses herself is lost, fittingly, in a failed attempt to ram an attacking cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes true stories in which British G-class destroyer
and HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser, sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.
In what became a trait of MacLean's style, the book uses a relatively predictable set of events to paint moving portrayals of the crew and the human aspects of the war. His heroes are not especially motivated by ideals, they rarely excel at more than one task, they are outfoxed by a respectable enemy. It is only their resilience, as they redefine the word, that pushes this bunch of seamen to genuine acts of heroism. The realism of the descriptions, the believable motivations of the characters and the simplicity of the line of events make the story all the more credible, though the number of coincidental accidents that plague the crew are startling, robbing them of any real victory.
's The Caine Mutiny
and Nicholas Monsarrat
's The Cruel Sea
. http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=29386.
, with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, appears in Dutch novelist Jan de Hartog
's The Captain
(1967). Comparisons may be also be drawn with Wolfgang Ott's 1957 novel Sharks and Little Fish
, written from the viewpoint of a sailor who serves surface ships and submarines of the World War II German navy, the Kriegsmarine
.
The use of ship names derived from classical mythology
is a well-established practice of the Royal Navy
. However, commentator Bill Baley suggests that the specific choice of Ulysses
might have been less than accidental. "Unlike in Joyce
's famous book, there are here no specific scenes clearly reminiscent of specific ones in Homer
's Odyssey
; 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."
play of the same name which was first aired on 14 June 1997 in the Classic Play series. It starred Sir Derek Jacobi
as Captain Vallery and Sir Donald Sinden
as Admiral Starr. http://www.promenadeproductions.com/archive/hms-ulysses.html
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
author Alistair MacLean
Alistair MacLean
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, all three having been made into successful films...
, and ultimately, one of his most popular. Originally published in 1955
1955 in literature
The year 1955 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*28 May - Philip Larkin makes a train journey from Hull to London which inspires his poem The Whitsun Weddings....
, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean’s personal experiences in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
provided the background material and the ill-fated PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
convoy to Murmansk provided the basis for the story.
Plot summary
The novel features a light cruiserLight cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
, one of a unique type similar to the real Dido-class
Dido class cruiser
The Dido class was a class of sixteen light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the Arethusa class light cruisers. The first group of three ships was commissioned in 1940, the second group and third group were commissioned in 1941–1942...
s cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s (MacLean had served in of that class), extremely 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 a mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
on board. Ulysses puts to sea again to escort a vital convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
FR-77 (based on the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
) heading for Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
. Predictably, they are beset by numerous plot elements: an unusually fierce Arctic storm, German
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
ships and U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s, as well as airborne attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five. Ulysses herself is lost, fittingly, in a failed attempt to ram an attacking cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes true stories in which British G-class destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
and HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser, sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.
In what became a trait of MacLean's style, the book uses a relatively predictable set of events to paint moving portrayals of the crew and the human aspects of the war. His heroes are not especially motivated by ideals, they rarely excel at more than one task, they are outfoxed by a respectable enemy. It is only their resilience, as they redefine the word, that pushes this bunch of seamen to genuine acts of heroism. The realism of the descriptions, the believable motivations of the characters and the simplicity of the line of events make the story all the more credible, though the number of coincidental accidents that plague the crew are startling, robbing them of any real victory.
Literary significance & 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 WoukHerman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...
's The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny is a 1952 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard a destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific in World War II and deals with, among other things, the moral and ethical decisions made at sea by the captains of ships...
and Nicholas Monsarrat
Nicholas Monsarrat
Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat RNVR was a British novelist known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea and Three Corvettes , but perhaps best known internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.- Early life :Born...
's The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (book)
The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II....
. http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=29386.
Allusions/references from other works
The same background of the World War II Murmansk convoysArctic convoys of World War II
The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
, with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, appears in Dutch novelist Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.- Early years :...
's The Captain
The Captain (1967 novel)
The Captain is a 1967 novel by Dutch writer Jan de Hartog.Ocean-going tugboats, a highly specialized field of nautical enterprise in which the Dutch have always taken the lead, were the subject of De Hartog's book, "Hollands Glorie" - in which the highly skilled tugboat sailors were depicted The...
(1967). Comparisons may be also be drawn with Wolfgang Ott's 1957 novel Sharks and Little Fish
Sharks And Little Fish
Sharks and Little Fish is an acclaimed best-selling novel written by German author Wolfgang Ott. First published in 1957, it is based on the author's own experiences as a young submariner...
, written from the viewpoint of a sailor who serves surface ships and submarines of the World War II German navy, the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
.
The use of ship names derived from classical mythology
Classical mythology
Classical mythology or Greco-Roman mythology is the cultural reception of myths from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Along with philosophy and political thought, mythology represents one of the major survivals of classical antiquity throughout later Western culture.Classical mythology has provided...
is a well-established practice of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. However, commentator Bill Baley suggests that the specific choice of Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
might have been less than accidental. "Unlike in Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's famous book, there are here no specific scenes clearly reminiscent of specific ones in Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
; 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."
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
HMS Ulysses has never been filmed. However, it was adapted by Nick McCarty for a BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
play of the same name which was first aired on 14 June 1997 in the Classic Play series. It starred Sir Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
as Captain Vallery and Sir Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
as Admiral Starr. http://www.promenadeproductions.com/archive/hms-ulysses.html
See also
- Arctic convoys of World War IIArctic convoys of World War IIThe Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
- Convoy PQ-17Convoy PQ-17PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
, an Arctic convoy almost completely destroyed by the Germans in 1942, a British destroyerDestroyerIn naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
that sacrificed herself in comnbat with a large German warship - HMS Jervis Bay, a British armed merchant cruiser that sacrificed herself to defend a convoy by attacking a large German warship
External links
HMS Ulysses was the first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
author Alistair MacLean
Alistair MacLean
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, all three having been made into successful films...
, and ultimately, one of his most popular. Originally published in 1955
1955 in literature
The year 1955 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*28 May - Philip Larkin makes a train journey from Hull to London which inspires his poem The Whitsun Weddings....
, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean’s personal experiences in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
provided the background material and the ill-fated PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
convoy to Murmansk provided the basis for the story.
Plot summary
The novel features a light cruiserLight cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
, one of a unique type similar to the real Dido-class
Dido class cruiser
The Dido class was a class of sixteen light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the Arethusa class light cruisers. The first group of three ships was commissioned in 1940, the second group and third group were commissioned in 1941–1942...
s cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s (MacLean had served in of that class), extremely 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 a mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
on board. Ulysses puts to sea again to escort a vital convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
FR-77 (based on the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
) heading for Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
. Predictably, they are beset by numerous plot elements: an unusually fierce Arctic storm, German
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
ships and U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s, as well as airborne attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five. Ulysses herself is lost, fittingly, in a failed attempt to ram an attacking cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes true stories in which British G-class destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
and HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser, sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.
In what became a trait of MacLean's style, the book uses a relatively predictable set of events to paint moving portrayals of the crew and the human aspects of the war. His heroes are not especially motivated by ideals, they rarely excel at more than one task, they are outfoxed by a respectable enemy. It is only their resilience, as they redefine the word, that pushes this bunch of seamen to genuine acts of heroism. The realism of the descriptions, the believable motivations of the characters and the simplicity of the line of events make the story all the more credible, though the number of coincidental accidents that plague the crew are startling, robbing them of any real victory.
Literary significance & 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 WoukHerman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...
's The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny is a 1952 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard a destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific in World War II and deals with, among other things, the moral and ethical decisions made at sea by the captains of ships...
and Nicholas Monsarrat
Nicholas Monsarrat
Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat RNVR was a British novelist known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea and Three Corvettes , but perhaps best known internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.- Early life :Born...
's The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (book)
The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II....
. http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=29386.
Allusions/references from other works
The same background of the World War II Murmansk convoysArctic convoys of World War II
The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
, with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, appears in Dutch novelist Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.- Early years :...
's The Captain
The Captain (1967 novel)
The Captain is a 1967 novel by Dutch writer Jan de Hartog.Ocean-going tugboats, a highly specialized field of nautical enterprise in which the Dutch have always taken the lead, were the subject of De Hartog's book, "Hollands Glorie" - in which the highly skilled tugboat sailors were depicted The...
(1967). Comparisons may be also be drawn with Wolfgang Ott's 1957 novel Sharks and Little Fish
Sharks And Little Fish
Sharks and Little Fish is an acclaimed best-selling novel written by German author Wolfgang Ott. First published in 1957, it is based on the author's own experiences as a young submariner...
, written from the viewpoint of a sailor who serves surface ships and submarines of the World War II German navy, the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
.
The use of ship names derived from classical mythology
Classical mythology
Classical mythology or Greco-Roman mythology is the cultural reception of myths from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Along with philosophy and political thought, mythology represents one of the major survivals of classical antiquity throughout later Western culture.Classical mythology has provided...
is a well-established practice of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. However, commentator Bill Baley suggests that the specific choice of Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
might have been less than accidental. "Unlike in Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's famous book, there are here no specific scenes clearly reminiscent of specific ones in Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
; 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."
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
HMS Ulysses has never been filmed. However, it was adapted by Nick McCarty for a BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
play of the same name which was first aired on 14 June 1997 in the Classic Play series. It starred Sir Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
as Captain Vallery and Sir Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
as Admiral Starr. http://www.promenadeproductions.com/archive/hms-ulysses.html
See also
- Arctic convoys of World War IIArctic convoys of World War IIThe Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
- Convoy PQ-17Convoy PQ-17PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
, an Arctic convoy almost completely destroyed by the Germans in 1942, a British destroyerDestroyerIn naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
that sacrificed herself in comnbat with a large German warship - HMS Jervis Bay, a British armed merchant cruiser that sacrificed herself to defend a convoy by attacking a large German warship
External links
HMS Ulysses was the first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
author Alistair MacLean
Alistair MacLean
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, all three having been made into successful films...
, and ultimately, one of his most popular. Originally published in 1955
1955 in literature
The year 1955 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*28 May - Philip Larkin makes a train journey from Hull to London which inspires his poem The Whitsun Weddings....
, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean’s personal experiences in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
provided the background material and the ill-fated PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
convoy to Murmansk provided the basis for the story.
Plot summary
The novel features a light cruiserLight cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
, one of a unique type similar to the real Dido-class
Dido class cruiser
The Dido class was a class of sixteen light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the Arethusa class light cruisers. The first group of three ships was commissioned in 1940, the second group and third group were commissioned in 1941–1942...
s cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s (MacLean had served in of that class), extremely 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 a mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
on board. Ulysses puts to sea again to escort a vital convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
FR-77 (based on the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
) heading for Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
. Predictably, they are beset by numerous plot elements: an unusually fierce Arctic storm, German
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
ships and U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s, as well as airborne attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five. Ulysses herself is lost, fittingly, in a failed attempt to ram an attacking cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes true stories in which British G-class destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
and HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser, sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.
In what became a trait of MacLean's style, the book uses a relatively predictable set of events to paint moving portrayals of the crew and the human aspects of the war. His heroes are not especially motivated by ideals, they rarely excel at more than one task, they are outfoxed by a respectable enemy. It is only their resilience, as they redefine the word, that pushes this bunch of seamen to genuine acts of heroism. The realism of the descriptions, the believable motivations of the characters and the simplicity of the line of events make the story all the more credible, though the number of coincidental accidents that plague the crew are startling, robbing them of any real victory.
Literary significance & 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 WoukHerman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...
's The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny is a 1952 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard a destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific in World War II and deals with, among other things, the moral and ethical decisions made at sea by the captains of ships...
and Nicholas Monsarrat
Nicholas Monsarrat
Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat RNVR was a British novelist known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea and Three Corvettes , but perhaps best known internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.- Early life :Born...
's The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (book)
The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II....
. http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=29386.
Allusions/references from other works
The same background of the World War II Murmansk convoysArctic convoys of World War II
The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
, with the combination of extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond, appears in Dutch novelist Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.- Early years :...
's The Captain
The Captain (1967 novel)
The Captain is a 1967 novel by Dutch writer Jan de Hartog.Ocean-going tugboats, a highly specialized field of nautical enterprise in which the Dutch have always taken the lead, were the subject of De Hartog's book, "Hollands Glorie" - in which the highly skilled tugboat sailors were depicted The...
(1967). Comparisons may be also be drawn with Wolfgang Ott's 1957 novel Sharks and Little Fish
Sharks And Little Fish
Sharks and Little Fish is an acclaimed best-selling novel written by German author Wolfgang Ott. First published in 1957, it is based on the author's own experiences as a young submariner...
, written from the viewpoint of a sailor who serves surface ships and submarines of the World War II German navy, the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
.
The use of ship names derived from classical mythology
Classical mythology
Classical mythology or Greco-Roman mythology is the cultural reception of myths from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Along with philosophy and political thought, mythology represents one of the major survivals of classical antiquity throughout later Western culture.Classical mythology has provided...
is a well-established practice of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. However, commentator Bill Baley suggests that the specific choice of Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
might have been less than accidental. "Unlike in Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's famous book, there are here no specific scenes clearly reminiscent of specific ones in Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
; 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."
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
HMS Ulysses has never been filmed. However, it was adapted by Nick McCarty for a BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
play of the same name which was first aired on 14 June 1997 in the Classic Play series. It starred Sir Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
as Captain Vallery and Sir Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
as Admiral Starr. http://www.promenadeproductions.com/archive/hms-ulysses.html
See also
- Arctic convoys of World War IIArctic convoys of World War IIThe Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
- Convoy PQ-17Convoy PQ-17PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
, an Arctic convoy almost completely destroyed by the Germans in 1942, a British destroyerDestroyerIn naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
that sacrificed herself in comnbat with a large German warship - HMS Jervis Bay, a British armed merchant cruiser that sacrificed herself to defend a convoy by attacking a large German warship
External links