Nostalgia for the hell that was WW II, when manhood meant guts and skill. British convoy JW137, with 35 merchant ships, 26 warships, and 10,000 men presses on in the perpetual night of Arctic winter from Loch Ewe in the north of Scotland through the Norwegian Sea to Murmansk with 275,000 tons of supplies for the Russian war effort. The Tommies have an additional mission: ""to seek out and destroy the enemy wherever possible"" -- and that means Jerry. The convoy is sighted by a German reconnaissance plane and the cat-and-dog fight begins with the convoy's assignment to the fearless, daring Korvettenkapitan Hans Kleber. . . . Kleber? Could it be the same Hans Kleber who once saved the life of Francis Redman, captain of the British ship Vengeful, after a prewar skiing mishap, whose sweet little sister was the Englishman's only true love? Ja wohl! Former South African naval commander Trew is heavy on technical details, with footnotes even. You can almost hear the asdic pings.