# HMS Jervis Bay



## The Basket (Nov 3, 2016)

I am interested in navel history.
And Jervis Bay is in my view is the greatest of stories.
On Nov 5 1940 the Jervis Bay was an armed merchant cruiser guarding an Atlantic convoy when it meant the Admiral Scheer. In one of the great one sided battles of history, the Jervis Bay attacked the Scheer to save the convoy and was sunk. The attack bought time for the convoy to scatter.
186 men were killed in action or reported missing
The acting captain Edward Fegen was awarded the VC for his actions posthumously.

This remembrance day is for me about the Jervis Bay. The sacrifice and courage shown was beyond the call of duty.

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## Capt. Vick (Nov 4, 2016)

I am always fascinated by people's action when they mean almost certain dead. What goes through their minds?


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## The Basket (Nov 4, 2016)

The decision to attack the Admiral Scheer was utterly suicide.
Like Mike Tyson in his prime versus a toddler.
I take great pride that such men lived and that I wore a similar uniform.
Today is the 76th Anniversary of the Jervis Bay sinking. I will remember them


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## pbehn (Nov 4, 2016)

This reminds me of Ludovic Kennedy who was a British Broadcaster, he was very emotional when decribing how his father lost his life.

Kennedy's father, by then a 60-year-old retired captain, returned to the navy and was given command of HMS _Rawalpindi_,[2] a hastily militarised P&O steamship, known as an Armed Merchant Cruiser. On 23 November 1939, while on patrol southeast of Iceland the _Rawalpindi_ encountered two of the most powerful German warships, the small battleships (or battlecruisers) _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ trying to break out through the GIUK gap into the Atlantic. The _Rawalpindi_ was able to signal the German ships' location back to base. Despite being hopelessly outgunned, Captain Edward Coverley Kennedy of the _Rawalpindi_ decided to fight, rather than surrender as demanded by the Germans. _Scharnhorst_ sank _Rawalpindi_; of her 312 crew 275 (including her captain) were killed. His son Ludovic was twenty years old. Captain Kennedy was posthumously mentioned in dispatches and his decision to fight against overwhelming odds entered the folklore of the Royal Navy.[3]

Ludovic Kennedy - Wikipedia


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## Capt. Vick (Nov 4, 2016)

Was that a foolish decision in his case? After reporting their position, what more could reasonably be asked of him? Was honor and bravery more important than the lives of his crew?


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## Capt. Vick (Nov 4, 2016)

There is a character in the Joseph Heller book "Catch 22" who explains that when the fascists came he was the most ardent fascist, when the Communists came he was the most ardent communist and when the Americans came he was the most ardent for their cause. Basically underlining that he did what he did to survive. Some may call him a coward, but st least they can do it to his face!

Certainly something to consider.


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## pbehn (Nov 4, 2016)

Capt. Vick said:


> Was that a foolish decision in his case? After reporting their position, what more could reasonably be asked of him? Was honor and bravery more important than the lives of his crew?




I was thinking the same thing, duty played a major part in Navy service and there was no guarantee they would be treated humanely. A lucky hit to a battleship could cause a lot of damage especially to RADAR etc and any delay to their progress is a positive.


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## aurora-7 (Nov 4, 2016)

It was a pretty desperate time for Britain in the fall of 1940. They survived the Battle of Britain but the convoys from North America was an essential lifeline for them to survive since France had fallen and Britain was essentially alone. I'm sure Fegen felt this and did what was the only thing he could do to try and protect is convoy charges. After all that's what his mission was.

I have the Heller kit of the Admiral Scheer (Germany's most successful surface naval ship) and have pondered ways to get a _Jervis Bay_ to display along with her.

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## pbehn (Nov 4, 2016)

Further to the OP the Jervis Bay was the sole escort of 37 ships of which only 5 were lost, a heroic action buying time to allow the convoy to scatter.


from wiki
When the convoy encountered the German warship _Admiral Scheer_ about 755 nautical miles (1,398 km) south-southwest of Reykjavík, the Captain of _Jervis Bay_, Edward Fegen, ordered the convoy to scatter, and set his own ship on a course towards the German warship to draw its fire. _Jervis Bay_ was hopelessly outgunned and outranged by the 28 cm (11 inch) guns of the German ship, but it attacked the larger ship with its guns, firing more to distract the German ship from the merchantmen than with hopes of doing any damage.[2] Although the German's shells ravaged the _Jervis Bay_, and Fegen was wounded and many crew killed, Fegen and the surviving crew fought on until their ship was sunk. Captain Fegen, and many of the crew, went down with the ship.[3]

_Jervis Bay_'s sacrifice bought enough time for the convoy to begin to scatter. Further time was bought by the freighter SS _Beaverford_ which engaged _Admiral Scheer_ for over four hours. In the end the German cruiser was only able to sink five merchant ships and the remainder of the convoy escaped.[4]

Sixty-eight survivors of _Jervis Bay_'s crew of 254 were picked up by the neutral Swedish ship _Stureholm_ (three later died of their injuries).[5] Guy Byam was one of the survivors of the sinking, he was later killed while covering an air raid over Germany for the BBC.[6]


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## Old Wizard (Nov 4, 2016)




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## pbehn (Nov 4, 2016)

Further to the actions of the Jervis Bay I looked up the actions of the SS Beaverford, whose actions were truly heroic and I always bear in mind many of the seamen on these ships were not armed servicemen but merchant seamen, civilians in real terms. 


Taking on a pocket battleship in an freighter loaded with with guns but no armour to buy time for your friends is true heroism, only one ship from the convoy was lost after Beaverford engaged. It is easy to view these actions as almost Kamikazi suicide actions when in another light they show great seamanship and control in adversity by Captain Pettigrew of the Beaverford and great application and courage by Captain Fegan, he had no chance of sinking The Admiral Scheer but did radio position delay and damage the RADAR, in my previous post I was unaware of this but I did remember it was one of the first effects of combat on the Graf Spee in the Battle of the River Plate.



from wiki

Convoy HX-84 was half way across the Atlantic when it was located and attacked by the German heavy cruiser _Admiral Scheer_ on November 5. The attack began at 17:15. The convoy’s only escort, the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS _Jervis Bay_ ordered the convoy to scatter. In an engagement that won the commander of _Jervis Bay_ a posthumous Victoria Cross, the escort steered directly towards _Admiral Scheer_. Hopelessly outgunned, _Jervis Bay_ was set afire and sank 22 minutes later.[8] _Admiral Scheer_ now began to attack the convoy, first sinking the SS _Maidan_ with all hands. The tanker _San Demetrio_ was set on fire, but did not sink. ‘‘Admiral Scheer’' next sank the freighters _Trewllard_ and _Kenbane Head_.

Captain Pettigrew aboard _Beaverford_ had begun to scatter but as he watched _Admiral Scheer_ close on _Kenbane Head_, he ordered _Beaverford_ to turn and engage the German heavy cruiser. _Beaverford_ opened fire with her 3-inch bow gun. The first shot landed unexpectedly close to the German heavy cruiser. _Admiral Scheer_ turned all its attention to this unexpected challenge firing star shells to illuminate _Beaverford_ as darkness had now fallen. _Beaverford_ turned to bring both of its two small guns to bear and fire at the German cruiser although neither gun was in range. _Beaverford_ sent out a wireless message as it engaged the German cruiser, “It is our turn now. So long. The captain and crew of SS Beaverford”.

_Admiral Scheer_ opened fire on _Beaverford_ with its 11-inch guns. However _Beaverford_ used the reserve power of its turbine engines to quickly turn and evade the fire as the shots landed in the water, missing _Beaverford_ although the shrapnel started small fires on amidst her deck cargo. The ships of the dispersing convoy had laid a thick smoke screen from floating smoke floats and _Beaverford_ was able to disappear into the smoke screen. _Admiral Scheer_, its radar broken from the prolonged bombardment of _Jervis Bay_ had difficulty in locating the new challenger in the smoke and darkness. _Beaverford_, one of the faster ships in the convoy, had a chance to escape in the darkness, but for reasons unknown, Captain Pettigrew stayed to fight it out with _Admiral Scheer_. For the next four hours, _Beaverford_ played a cat-and-mouse game, emerging from the smokescreen to fire at _Admiral Scheer_ and then seeking cover into the smoke. Captain Theodor Krancke in command of _Admiral Scheer_ had identified _Beaverford_ as “Target No. 9” and thought he had destroyed the freighter, only to find it the ship reappearing to confront him again.[9]

However every time _Beaverford_ emerged from cover, the ship was hit by _Admiral Scheer'_s firepower. In all _Admiral Scheer_ fired 83 shells at _Beaverford_, 71 from its 5.9-inch guns with 16 hitting the unarmoured freighter, and 12 from the cruisers massive 11-inch guns with three making hits. _Beaverford_ began to take on water and slow. Fires spread on the freighter making it easier for the enemy guns to find their mark. Finally at 22:45, _Admiral Scheer_ was able to destroy _Beaverford_ with a torpedo. The torpedo hit the fore part of _Beaverford_, lifting the bow and detonating the ammunition in her hold. The ship blew apart and the stern was last seen sliding into the ocean. All aboard were killed in the sinking. _Beaverford_ had taken up the fight with _Admiral Scheer_ for almost five hours.[10] Delayed by _Beaverford_, the German cruiser was only able to find and sink one more ship from the convoy, SS _Fresno City_.[11] Of the 38 ships in the convoy, _Admiral Scheer_ had only succeeded in sinking six.

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## Old Wizard (Nov 4, 2016)

Truly heroic.


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## The Basket (Nov 5, 2016)

A captain of a naval vessel who surrender his vessel without a fight is going to be court martialed for cowardice..

"in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others" _(Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres)_
_
It is wrong that Fegen got a VC and Kennedy didn't for the same actions.

I don't know about the SS Beaverford. Oh my god! What amazing story and all the men were killed. The Jervis Bay was technically a warship so had to fight. The Beaverford could have run but stayed and fought. Courage beyond as they had no duty to fight.But knowing fought. Fighting a ship like the Admiral Scheer in a merchant vessel is crazy.
The loss of the Graf Spee was interested from a point of view as the captain Langsdorff probably expected a firing squad if he ever got back to Germany._


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## pbehn (Nov 5, 2016)

The Basket said:


> A captain of a naval vessel who surrender his vessel without a fight is going to be court martialed for cowardice..
> 
> "in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others" _(Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres)
> 
> ...


My father was a sailor in the RN, he and many other Navy men admired Langsdorf greatly. He made a success of being a surface raider, caused minimum loss of life and treated prisoners exceptionally well being held in the safest part of the ship. He took his own life to spare his crew as it was clear the Graf Spee would never sink another merchant ship.

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## pbehn (Nov 5, 2016)

The Basket said:


> A captain of a naval vessel who surrender his vessel without a fight is going to be court martialed for cowardice..
> 
> "in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others" _(Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres)
> 
> ...


It was common for surface raiders to radio and demand surrender, this is how Langsdorf sank a lot of ships without killing anyone, however since Jervis Bay was an armed merchantman it would look like a civilian not a military vessel.

The Beaverford was an extraordinary action it, was armed for self defense as it carried valuable cargo, to keep a pocket battleship occupied for 4 hours was a feat of arms, it ensured all the convoy were well scattered.

The problem with giving one man a V.C. is it asks why others equally brave didnt get one. The war was won by people doing their bit, losses of merchant seamen were second only to Bomber Command during the war. The V.C. is for valour, I would say anyone getting on a petrol tanker in the presence of icebergs, a battleship and U Boats has shown valour. The Beaverford was lost with all hands and from what I have read had a merchant seaman crew, there was therefore no one to make a citation or report about the captain to allow a VC to be awarded, and VCs are for the military, this is also the reason why few RAF fighter pilots received VCs compared to bomber command.

from wiki
The office of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen calculated that 144,000 merchant seamen were serving aboard British registered merchant ships at the outbreak of World War II and that up to 185,000 men and women served in the Merchant Navy during the wartime.[2][3] 36,749 seamen and women were lost by enemy action, 5,720 were taken prisoner and 4,707 were wounded, totaling 47,176 casualties, a minimum casualty rate of over 25 percent. Mr Gabe Thomas, the former Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman (Great Britain) stated that "27 percent of merchant seamen died through enemy action".[4]


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## pbehn (Nov 5, 2016)

Another interesting action in this attack.

Admiral Scheer moved in among the fleeing ships. Another remarkable action was her attack on the *San Demetrio*. This ship was a tanker carrying 12,000 tons of aviation gasoline. She was set ablaze and the crew took to the boats. One of the lifeboats was rescued. The other wasn't. The men of that boat returned to the still burning vessel after two days in the water. It was a miracle that the San Demetrio didn't explode. The crew put out the fire and sailed their ship back to England through U-Boat infested waters. A movie was made about their exploits. In the battle for *convoy HX84* legends were made.


Getting onto a burning tanker after two days in a lifeboat is a real frying pan or fire dilemma.

from this site

FABERGE GOOGLE DOODLE: CAPTAIN PETTIGREW, SS BEAVERFORD AND THE BATTLE FOR CONVOY HX84

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## Old Wizard (Nov 5, 2016)




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## The Basket (Nov 5, 2016)

The film battle of the river plate was about the Graf Spee and for what was a post war film was very complementary about Langsdorff. Considering the general feeling in 1950s uk towards Germans, Langsdorff was portrayed very much against stereotype. Only Rommel got such a nice time of it
Admiral Scheer was the longest lived and most successful of the big gun ships. Top of my head only Prinz Eugen survived the war. 
The most successful surface ships were the German Auxillary cruisers like the Atlantis and Pinguin. It's a must read for any Kriegsmarine fans and for the most part the Auxillary Cruisers fought a very honourable war. Considering the Tirpitz did zip and cost a kings ransom the Komet and the Kormoran were bargains.

Based on my rough calculation the loss of life by the attack on the hx-84 was 361. Based on Wikipedia. That was just one small convoy in a big war.


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## pbehn (Nov 5, 2016)

The Basket said:


> The film battle of the river plate was about the Graf Spee and for what was a post war film was very complementary about Langsdorff. Considering the general feeling in 1950s uk towards Germans, Langsdorff was portrayed very much against stereotype. Only Rommel got such a nice time of it.




The first book I ever read on military history was titled "The battle of the river plate" it was my fathers book and I presume was where he formed his opinion. Post war UK was keen in all movies to emphasise the positives in the German character and the negatives of the Nazi regime. Langsdorf was portrayed as what he was, a German naval commander doing his job, from what I remember about the book he hated the Nazis and had nothing to do with them but he did do his duty.


Great Britain is or was a maritime nation, the treatment of Langsdorf in popular media follows exactly the treatment of Captain De Winter of the Dutch royal Navy after the battle of Camperdown, after capture he was court martialled and the outcome was that he was found "to have nobly maintained the honour of the Dutch flag", At the time of his surrender De Winter offered his sword to Admiral Duncan who refused to accept it and shook the mans hand instead.

Jan Willem de Winter - Wikipedia
Battle of Camperdown - Wikipedia


As an exercise go through all of Churchills speeches and pick out negative comments about Germans (there are very few) and compare to the comments about the Nazi regime and its axis(there are many). Langsdorf represented the civilized Germany that had been hijacked by a regime.


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## Wavelength (Jan 29, 2017)

MDV550 Heft 7 (aka GKdos 1390/41) contains the German primary documentation on this battle. It clarifies some of the statements listed in the wiki narrative posted above. It contains detailed battle maps, and charts of what type and how much ammo was expended on which targets, how long it took to score the first hit, and how many hits were confirmed by observation. There is also a detailed timeline on the battle map down to the seconds from when the first shots were fired.


Scheer spent 22 minutes and 22 seconds on the Jervis Bay, expending 119 11-inch rounds, and 68 6-inch rounds. All HE. The sun set 7 minutes after the battle commenced, so by the time it was finished with the Jervis Bay it was getting pretty dark and the smoke screen was also well developed. From the Wiki narrative quoted above:



> _Admiral Scheer_now began to attack the convoy, first sinking the SS_Maidan_ with all hands. The tanker_San Demetrio_was set on fire, but did not sink. ‘‘Admiral Scheer’' next sank the freighters_Trewllard_ and_Kenbane Head_.



It’s difficult to piece together which ships were next and how the secondary accounts correlate to the official primary account, but the wiki account contains errors. Target designated number 2 (which was actually the closest), a tanker, was taken under fire by a portion of the middle artillery (6-inch) at the same time as the Jervis Bay. It was fired at for 10 minutes, scoring the first hit after 3 minutes, and scoring 10 observed hits. This target was not later claimed as sunk.


Target designated number 3 was also taken under fire while the Scheer was still dealing with the Jervis Bay. This target was also fired at only by the middle artillery from a range of 15,400 meters. The duration of firing was only 3 minutes and 50 seconds, expending only 18 rounds. No hits were observed. It was probably too dark by then to spot the fall of shot, being about 15 minutes after sunset, and 15km is beyond the practical range of star shell, thus explaining the truncated fire on this target.


From the wiki narrative quoted:



> _Admiral Scheer_, its radar broken from the prolonged bombardment of_Jervis Bay_ had difficulty in locating the new challenger in the smoke and darkness.




This statement is not quite correct. The primary document reports that the radar set was affected by the “shock of its own guns firing, but could be reset and used again for further shooting.” This is very instructive information. It tells us that the radar was used for fire control and then reused for fire control additional times. It was not knocked out.


Indeed, the next target (number 4) was taken under fire and hit with the second salvo (48 seconds from opening fire on this target), despite that it was now dark and the target was hiding behind the smoke screen, by the 11 -inch battery from a range of 19,850 meters (almost 22,000 yards)! This is probably the first time in history that a target was hit at night at relatively long range by radar directed fire, and this was Nov, 1940. Quite an historic milestone in naval warfare that has gone unnoticed.


After only 3 minutes 23 seconds, the 11-inch guns were shifted to another target that crossed in front of target number 4 at a range 17,900 meters. Three hits were observed on this target during the next 8 minutes and 47 seconds. At the same time the 6-inch guns took another target under fire at short range using the night optics.


By this time some 40 minutes after the battle had commenced the convoy was well scattered, forcing Krancke to change his tactics to hunting down individual victims one at a time over great distances at night, although a ½ moon would not set until 2229 hours. During these next combats at intervals, Krancke employed star shell and/or search light illumination at short range to preserve ammunition supplies.


Obviously in the darkness, the Germans attacked some of the same ships more than once. As far as they could ascertain, they had attacked 13 targets, sinking nine totaling 86,600 tons, and damaging three. The Germans over claimed, but it was actually a pretty good awareness of the battle situations given a night battle. Compare to the massive over claiming and utter confusion by both the Japanese and the US navies during the Solomon Islands night actions two years later.

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## parsifal (Jan 29, 2017)

This is my writing but based mostly on RN war diary and Kriegsmarine reports (though my german is laughable)

At 1240, DKM CS ADMIRAL SCHEER sank *steamer MOPAN (UK 5389 grt) *in 52‑59N, 32-12W. MOPAN had departed Kingston, Jamaica, was en route to England. The Panzerschiff rescued the steamer MOPAN's 68 survivors.





The S.S. MOPAN had passed Convoy HX84 , and she had declined an invitation to join the convoy, preferring instead to sail on ahead, alone. The ADMIRAL SCHEER came across the MOPAN, and ordered her to stop, firing warning shots from her 5.9 inch guns, which exploded close to the freighters bow.








_The abandoned MOPAN being shelled by the 5.9" btys of the SCHEER. On the right, a lifeboat carrying survivors from the MOPAN are hoisted onto the SCHEER. The crew were taken prisoner to minimise the chances of the SCHEER being discovered as she stalked HX 84_

Sinking the JERVIS BAY and attacks on HX 84
SCHEERS commander (Krancke) was not happy about the time that had been spent bringing down the MOPAN it as it had wasted valuable time and daylight was running out, it was going to be close but he could still do it. So again he ordered full speed ahead.

HX 84 commanders still believed as twilight was setting in they could dodge the raider, but as sunset began, the HMS JERVIS BAY spotted a ship on the horizon. Capt Fegen flashed "What ship ?" but he received no reply, it was possible that it could be an escort for the convoy. When the vessel was about 10 miles away and the signals still being sent and no reply given, concern began to grow and the JERVIS BAY went to action stations, but they still could not recognise the ship as darkness was beginning to set. By 1730 hrs (5.30 pm) the ship was at about 8 miles range and closing, when the ship turned broadside on, allowing all of her six 11" guns to bear down on the convoy.

This time Kranke gave no warning and opened fire. Any confusion the convoy had about the ship ended when six flashes of light was seen coming from her and within seconds the sound of of the shells passing overhead were heard. Immediately the convoy was ordered to scatter. Capt Fegen (of the JERVIS BAY) immediately ordered full ahead and turned towards the enemy, dropping smoke floats as they went. He surely realised that his actions were a virtual death sentence for his ship, and most of the crew, but he stated to his Bridge officer the only thing to prevent the "SCHEER" from destroying the convoy entirely was to buy time by sacrificing his ship. There would be no rescue for the crew as the convoy had been ordered to run for it. He gave the order to open fire on the SCHEER even though he was still out of range, with only four old 6" guns and an out of date fire control system against six 11" modern guns with a modern radar fire control system he attacked the ship. Krancke seeing the JERVIS BAY attacking, realised he must first overpower this unlikely mismatch before he could get into the real work of sinking the convoy.

After the second or third salvo the SCHEER had the range and 11" shells started to rip the JERVIS BAY apart. First it was the foredeck that was hit and some of the gun crew, with little protection from the blast and splinters, were blinded and wounded, but still they managed to keep firing, then it was below the bridge a shell exploded and part of the bridge was ripped apart and her only gunnery control centre, it was left in a mess with men lying bleeding and dying, with broken bones, bust eardrums, in shock and gasping for air through the smoke, still the JERVIS BAY fought on doggedly setting a heading for a deliberate collision course for the SCHEER if she could just manage to ram her she could still save the convoy. The next shell was a direct hit on a forward gun and the crew was killed immediately. The bow now was a mess with flames everywhere and metal sheets twisted and bent. Again the bridge was hit but this time it was a direct hit, in which Capt Fegen's arm was blown off, even though he managed to stand up and return to what was left of the bridge and restore some resemblance of order in what was left of the bridge crew, he remained at the bridge until he died moments later when another shell ripped the bridge apart. Throughout all this time what was left of the forward guns continued to fire, though they were still out of range. As they got closer and closer more and more shells hit the JERVIS BAY . Now the ship was ablaze from stem to stern and men dead or dying everywhere, but still at full speed to destruction. At last a shell caused serious damage to the ships structure, as she stopped and started to topple on she side. The order to abandon ship was given, then she started to sink bow first with her propeller sticking out of the water she headed to her final resting place with 187 of her crew. For his actions Captain Fegen received the Victoria Cross (posthumously). It was a decoration surely deserving for such a gallant and brave crew. The battle was short but valuable time had been gained and most of thye convoy owe their survival to this supreme sacrifice.

SCHEER took just over 22 minutes to deal with *AMC HMS JERVIS BAY (RN 14164 grt) *, which ceased fire and sank at almost the same time at 2003 hrs.





SCHEER, as expected did not attempt to rescue or assist the stricken ship, and engaged what elements of the rapidly scattering convoy. she sank *steamer MAIDAN (UK 7908 grt)* in 52‑28N, 32‑08W,





*Steamer TREWELLARD (UK 5201 grt)* in 52‑27N, 32‑09W,





*Steamer KENBANE HEAD (UK 5225 grt)* in 52‑26N, 32‑34W,





*MV BEAVERFORD (UK 10,042 grt)* in 52‑26N, 32‑34W. As the SCHEER overhauled the BEAVERFORD, it was just getting dark, but not enough to escape. BEAVERFORD's skipper, Captain E. Pettigrew knew that his ship was doomed. In what has been described as an amazing act of bravery, Pettigrew turned his ship toward the looming raider, its single forward four-inch gun firing until the SCHEER destroyed the BEAVERFORD about 15 mins later . The ship exploded and sank, taking its entire crew of 77 to the bottom with it. More time lost however for the by now furious Krancke.





*MV FRESNO CITY (UK 4955 grt) *in 51‑47N, 33‑29W





Steamer ANDALUSIA (UK 3082 grt) was damaged, but survived.



.

SCHEER also damaged damaged tker SAN DEMETRIO in 52‑48N, 32‑15W, The tkr was hit with several shells that destroyed the bridge and poop deck and left the upper deck in flames. Despite both the exploding shells and the resultant fire, the ship's highly flammable cargo did not explode. Nevertheless her Master, Captain Waite, believed that the fire could set off the aviation fuel at any moment so he gave the order to abandon ship. With the ship remaining under fire from the Scheer, the crew escaped in two lifeboats. Admiral Scheer then turned her attention to other ships of the rapidly scattering convoy.

The two lifeboats separated in the night and the lifeboat with the captain and 25 crew was picked up and taken to Newfoundland. The 16 men in the other lifeboat, including Second Officer Arthur G. Hawkins and Chief Engineer Charles Pollard, drifted for 24 hrs when they sighted a burning ship. To their surprise, they discovered that it was their own ship, SAN DEMETRIO. With few alternatives, the crew had to decide whether to risk death by exposure or to re-board and risk the fire. In the end they chose to remain in the lifeboat because the fire was too great and the weather too hazardous to attempt boarding, but after a second night in the boat and enduring a freezing Nth Atlantic winter gale, they regretted not re-boarding the tkr.

At dawn the following day, 7 November, the SAN DEMETRIO was about 5 nautical miles downwind so the crew set sail toward her and re-boarded. They fought the fire, repaired the port auxiliary boiler sufficiently to restart the ship's pumps and dynamos and repaired the auxiliary steering gear. No charts or navigational instruments had survived so the crew estimated a course from occasional glimpses of the sun. Her radio had not survived either. They managed to sail the tanker across the rest of the Atlantic, braving bad weather and U-boats. After seven days the SAN DEMETRIO reached waters off Ireland from where they were escorted on to the mouth of the River Clyde, docking on 16 November. They declined the offer of a tow from a tug because of the high cost.

Despite the damage and fire only 200 tons of SAN DEMETRIO 's highly volatile cargo had been lost. There was only one fatality, John Boyle, who had been injured jumping into the lifeboat after the original battle and gradually began to feel unwell. He was propped up in the engine room to watch the gauges but died of a haemorrhage after two days. He was posthumously awarded the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct.

Since the crew had received no assistance from another vessel, in the ensuing case in the Probate, and Admiralty Division of the High Court they were able to claim the salvage money from the insurers for the ship and cargo. The oil and freight cargo were valued at £60,000. The ship herself, almost new, was worth £250,000. The High Court awarded the claimants £14,700 salvage money: £2,000 of it going to Second Officer Hawkins; £1,000 to the estate of Joe Boyle. Another £1,000 went to 26-year-old Oswald Ross Preston, an American seaman, because he played a "magnificent" part when the battle started. Hawkins was also given the tattered Red Ensign of the ship.

The ship's part in Convoy HX-84 was made into a film, San Demetrio London in 1943, starring Walter Fitzgerald, Mervyn Johns, Ralph Michael, and Robert Beatty. It was one of the few films to recognise the heroism of British Merchant Navy crews during the war.




_SAN DEMETRIO....Lucky survivor _

Troopship RANGITIKI was damnaged but managed to escape. Swedish steamer STUREHOLM rescued 65 and three bodies from JERVIS BAY. The steamer arrived at Halifax on the 12th. Most of the survivors were transferred to AMC COMORIN for return to England. British steamer GLOUCESTER CITY, from a dispersed OB.convoy rescued 92 survivors from the steamers - 25 survivors from TREWELLARD, 23 from SAN DEMETRIO, 27 from KENBANE HEAD, and 24 from FRESNO CITY. On 9 November, Greek steamer MOUNT TAYGETUS rescued a further twelve crew from the FRESNO CITY. On steamer BEAVERFORD, all 77 crew were lost. On steamer MAIDAN, all 91 were lost. One crewman was killed on steamer FRESNO CITY. 23 crew were lost on steamer KENBANE HEAD. Two crew were killed and fourteen crew were missing on steamer TREWELLARD. Steamer GLOUCESTER CITY arrived at St Johns on the 13th. On the 10th, CLA BONAVENTURE and DD MASHONA searched the area of the HX.84 attack.


Convoy SC.10, fourteen ships escorted by Sloop FOLKESTONE, was one hundred miles southeast of HX.84. The convoy was ordered away from the area of the attack. HX.86 departing Halifax was immediately recalled. BHX.66 departed Bermuda on the 3rd escorted by AMC MONTCLARE, but returned to Bermuda on the 5th. BCs HOOD and REPULSE, CLAs PHOEBE, NAIAD, BONAVENTURE, DDs ESKIMO, MASHONA, MATABELE, ELECTRA, SOMALI, PUNJABI departed Scapa Flow late on the 5th to SCHEER's last position. Later, BC HOOD, cruisers PHOEBE and NAIAD, DDs SOMALI, ESKIMO, PUNJABI proceeded to cover the approaches to Brest and Lorient. BC REPULSE, CLA BONAVENTURE, DDs MASHONA, MATABELE, ELECTRA continued towards SCHEER's last position. BBs RODNEY and NELSON departed Scapa Flow on the 6th with CL SOUTHAMPTON and DDs COSSACK, MAORI, BRILLIANT, DOUGLAS, KEPPEL, VIMY to cover the Iceland-Faroes Channel. BB RODNEY was sent to escort HX.83 and once she was safe, HX.85 from Halifax.

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## Glider (Jan 29, 2017)

pbehn said:


> from wiki
> The office of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen calculated that 144,000 merchant seamen were serving aboard British registered merchant ships at the outbreak of World War II and that up to 185,000 men and women served in the Merchant Navy during the wartime.[2][3] 36,749 seamen and women were lost by enemy action, 5,720 were taken prisoner and 4,707 were wounded, totaling 47,176 casualties, a minimum casualty rate of over 25 percent. Mr Gabe Thomas, the former Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman (Great Britain) stated that "27 percent of merchant seamen died through enemy action".[4]



The dedication of the men in the Merchant Navy is sometimes not given the credit they deserve. My Gradnfather was sunk twice in WW2 and was 61 years old in 1939. He had also also been sunk in WW1 so certainly knew what he was in for. 

This age wasn't unusual at the start of WW2 in the Merchant Navy, as during the recession relatively few men were trained, and those with jobs hung onto them as long as they could. As new ships were built, retirement obviously wasn't an option as experienced crew of all types were needed to support the newly trained seamen.

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## The Basket (Jan 29, 2017)

Heartbreaking to think of those brave souls lost in the Atlantic.
So many convoys so many dead.
And this is one convoy.
Loss of life in the merchant navy was significantly highly as a percentage than most other branches of British military.
And they were treated badly. As soon as a ship was sunk, the pay for the survivors stopped! 
We owe them far more than we can ever repay


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