THE NORTH ATLANTIC WAS FRAUGHT WITH DISAGREEABLE DUTIES

The North Atlantic was fraught with disagreeable duties and by far the worst was the Murmansk Run.  This route, while under the aegis of the Royal Navy, was our primary lifeline with Russia and extended from Iceland and Spitzbergen into the Barents Sea.  The United States lost some twenty percent of her war shipments to Russia on the Murmansk Run, because of the combined attack of U-boats and the Luftwaffe.  The stirring drama of Murmansk is recounted by Captain Walter Karig, Lieutenant Commander Earl Burton, and Lieutenant Stephen L. Freeland.

--S.E. Smith
From: The United States Navy in World War II
Preface to Part II: Chapter 4: Murmansk Run

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Walter Karig:

U.S. Navy photograph of Captain Walter Karig, housed at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Besides Karig's service in the U.S. Navy, he was a journalist, naval historian, and a novelist.

Walter Karig (1898–1956) was a prolific author, who served as a U.S. naval captain. Karig authored a number of military history works on Allied naval operations duringWorld War II. Karig wrote scripts for the television series Victory at Sea. Besides his works on naval history, Karig was a novelist, publishing under his own name. He also worked as a journalist.