HMS Ulysses (novel)
First edition
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| Author | Alistair MacLean |
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| Illustrator | John Rose |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Collins |
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Publication date
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1955 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 357 pp (1994 paperback) |
| Followed by | The Guns of Navarone |
HMS Ulysses was the debut novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. Originally published in 1955, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean's experiences in the Royal Navy during World War II provided the background and the Arctic convoys to Murmansk provided 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 HMS Ulysses and the U-class destroyer of the same name.
The novel features HMS Ulysses, a light cruiser that is well armed and among the fastest ships in the world. (Ulysses is similar to the real Dido-class cruisers. MacLean had served in HMS Royalist of that class.) Her crew is pushed well beyond the limits of endurance and the book starts in the aftermath of a mutiny. Ulysses puts to sea again to escort FR-77, a vital convoy heading for Murmansk. They are beset by numerous challenges: an unusually fierce Arctic storm, German ships and U-boats, as well as air attacks. All slowly reduce the convoy from 32 ships to only five. The Ulysses is sunk in a failed attempt to ram a German cruiser after all her other weapons had been destroyed. This echoes events in which British G-class destroyer HMS Glowworm and HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchant cruiser, sacrificed themselves by engaging larger opponents.
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