in may that year 17-year-old mccgwire went to sea as a midshipman, by which time half of the dartmouth term who had graduated a year earlier had already lost their lives. in august he was on (a battleship famous for its role in the "bismarck" sinking) when it took part in the celebrated malta relief convoy named operation pedestal, in which 13 british ships were sunk but the oil tanker made it through.