At all costs

Bruce Ramsey, a Seattle Times editorial writer, reviews a book by Sam Moses titled "At All Costs: How A Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Mariners Turned the Tide of World War II" published by Random House:

This book by White Salmon author Sam Moses is the story of a British convoy sent to relieve the siege of Malta in 1942. It offers a slice of World War II action small enough so that the author can personalize the story through the key people who lived it — particularly two American merchantmen who were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. Some historical background: Germany and Italy had an army in North Africa that was pushing the British back into Egypt. That army, under Erwin Rommel, was extremely aggressive — but only when it could get supplies of food and fuel across the sea from Italy.

The sea route was short, but it was within easy air range of British-held Malta. If the British could hold Malta and keep enough combat aircraft there, armed and fueled, it could stop Rommel, and buy time to defeat him. But Malta had to hold out, and in the summer of 1942, its shelves of food and tanks of fuel were almost empty.

To save Malta, Winston Churchill talked Franklin Roosevelt out of a tanker — a new, fast tanker with welded rather than riveted compartments. The Royal Navy organized a convoy of other merchant ships — our American heroes were on one of them — protected by British warships. The convoy had to go from Britain and Gibraltar across half of the Mediterranean and through the strait between Vichy French Tunisia and Axis-held Sicily. Nearing the strait, they faced torpedo boats, dive-bombers and Italian submarines. Churchill was worried, but he took the gamble. Mussolini was informed of the convoy, and knew the value of Malta to his enemies. He was also worried — and had to decide whether to gamble the Italian Navy's precious cruisers..

Moses also sets up the story of his two heroes with some detailed background, particularly on Frederick Larsen, an American who had a Norwegian wife and son stuck in Axis-occupied Norway. Larsen had a plan under way to get them out, and went into the battle not knowing whether they were safe...At the end of the book the reader wants to cheer as the shot-up tanker, disfigured by aircraft wreckage, ripped by bombs and taking on seawater, is dragged into Valetta harbor, its cargo intact. For the Maltese, it is a Roman Catholic feast day — the sort of day when one might pray for a miracle...