His Majesty's Cruiser Ulysses is the debut and perhaps best novel by Scottish writer Alistair McLean. The writer himself joined the Royal Navy in 1941 as a junior sailor, later becoming a sailor and senior torpedo operator. A member of the Northern convoys, he knew firsthand the topic raised in the novel. The light cruiser Ulysses is well armed and is considered one of the fastest ships in the world. He joined the escort of the polar convoy RF-77, heading to Murmansk with vital military cargo. Consisting of thirty-two ships, the convoy is inexorably reduced, tormented by a severe arctic storm, German ships and submarines, enemy air attacks.