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A story of the Merchant Marine, and the dangers they face during World War 2 in shipping their freight. Cargo ships full of the supplies needed to support the war effort. The three B’s, Beans, Bullets, and Bandaids.
After a turret explosion, an officer considers resigning his position. That was in 1940, but when the war begins, his wife joins up as a nurse, and he rejoins the Navy. The convoy is about to ship out, and it looks like the man and wife may be in the same convoy, maybe even on the same ship. There’s no time for love though as he gets reacquainted with his hardworking crew. There’ll be plenty of work to do in sailing the North Atlantic, heading from Brooklyn to Mermansk. Gotta watch out for those pesky German U-boats.
Dangers come from under the sea, as well as being attacked from the air. The cruise becomes a series of blackouts of both light and noise, tedious daily routine of sailing, and always remaining watchful.
Meanwhile, the radio man cracks the German code, and radio messages are unscrambled. Now it’s time to take the offensive. A German freighter is captured, and boarded. Can they use the captured ship to help in their mission? What about that threat of an armed torpedo on board? Fortunately that crew member who speaks German comes in handy to give orders to the crew.
Will their crazy mission to infiltrate the German controlled seas succeed? Naval battles between freighters ensue. Through the dangers, the crew comes out in good shape, and proving their bravery.
The story may be over, but there’s still plenty of wartime left, and a fresh crew to face it.
Hey, maybe not as action packed, or adventuresome as it could be if the story dealt with battleships, or air craft carriers in the South Pacific, but they had Naval battles in the Atlantic too.
Still,m a good story of overcoming personal fears and hangups, to conquer an enemy. A display of being resourceful in using the situations that life throws your way.
