HMS ULYSSES by Alastair Maclean
 

Hey all

My interest in all things sub-related has got me reading pretty well anything with subs in it and I'm just reading HMS Ulysses. That is one seriously scary book. It's interesting to read it from the point of view of the ship commander as opposed to the submariner and the descriptions of the sheer horror of being on a ship with subs around makes very scary reading.

There's me in my ignorance thinking that being on a ship wouldn't be too bad as you've always got a chance of getting off if the ship's going down but, in reality, it looks just as bad as being in a sinking sub. Reading about the way people are in the sea with the surface covered in burning oil really got to me.

I know this is not really SH3 related but I really recommend it as a (really scary) read.

Thats one of the first books I read at school. Brilliant read. :up:

Brilliant. Read it at H.M.S. Ganges as a boy sailor.

Hello,
if you like McLean's Ulysses, try C.S. Forester's book "The ship" (first published 1943 in London). You will not be disappointed to say at least. It is about a light cruiser in the mediterranean sea during WW2. No subs i'm afraid, but ...
Greetings,
Catfish

Kurt,
Another good read is "The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat (also made into a great film about 40 years ago). He served in convoy escorts and the B/W photography in the movie really caught the cold grey Atlantic - v atmospheric. I remember reading a foreward that he had written for a book about U-boats and his hatred for them still came through loud and clear.

My dad served on minesweepers during WWII and he told me that once they put to sea the galley light went out and they were on cold food until they returned to port (the ship was just tossed around and it was too dangerous to have the cookers lit) which rapidly degenerated to hard tack biscuits (not quite the weevil infested items served in the Napoleonic Wars - but not far off). Essentially think cold wet hungry and seasick for weeks at a time. No fun anywhere at sea - in subs or surface vessels.

And obviously "Das Boot" is the classic U-boat novel (and you should make an effort to get the mini-series on DVD - German with English subtitles - absolutely wonderful, a forerunner for Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers much later)

Regards
Malcolm

Wow, loads of great recommendations there, thanks for those.

a great reading in fact ... its fiction but one gets lost in it in a way that it seams more real each page you read. the main caracthers are so wel defined and have such strong personalitys that they give that touch of true to the book . i t gives you a very good description of the artic convoys .

Actually if you want lots of recommendations (or at least see some of what is out there try this website - nothing written in the last sven years but some great classics amongst the trash)

http://www.boat-links.com/books/nfl/nautfic-01.html

But for non-fiction Blair's two books on the Atlantic Campaign are up there on most peoples lists (although he does seem to have a rather pro-American slant as I recall).

Malcolm

H.M.S. Ulysses is great reading (german title: "Die Männer der Ulysses", stupid, as always)

First thing coming to my mind when thinking of that book: that cold, that always present cold on that journey. *brrr*

and of couse the cool radar equipped german cruiser..

H.M.S. Ulysses was the book that got me into maritime history, and onto sub warfare. I still got the book (it's falling apart, but I won't get rid of it).
It would make a great movie, but I dread what Hollywood would do to it.
I still have to rug up after reading this book, even in the Australian summer!

maybe wolfgang petersen could direct it ... :)

As long as we don't see pretty boys with bad accents, it stands a chance :up:

I picked up the U-Boat Commander's Handbook and Herbert Werner's Iron Coffins, both terrific. But I'm frantically looking around the boat for dark paint, since the Handbook says that U-boats had a supply of dark paint to make sure nothing bright shone on deck. Anybody know where it is? :D

All I can say about 'Iron Coffins' is-- If Werner really got through all that, he is one lucky s.o.b.!

Great Book!

I still have all of Alistair MacLean's books in my collection, and reread them periodically. Ulysses is a great book; I went back through it not too long ago.