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Full Description
In November of 1940, the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer attacked British Convoy HX-84. The merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay, a converted passenger liner that was the convoy's only escort—armed only with antique 6-inch guns—charged the Nazi raider. While the Jervis Bay did not stand a chance of surviving the battle, her crew's fatalistic bravery inspired awe in all who witnessed the fight. Watson recounts how the Scheer's 11-inch guns turned the ship into a burning hulk in twenty-two minutes, but most of the convoy escaped.
In November of 1940, the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer attacked British Convoy HX-84. The Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Jervis Bay, the only escort and mounting antique 6-inch guns, charged the Nazi raider. While the Jervis Bay did not stand a chance of surviving the battle, her crew's fatalistic bravery inspired awe in all who witnessed the fight. Watson describes how the Scheer's 11-inch guns turned the converted passenger liner into a burning hulk in twenty-two minutes, but most of the convoy escaped.
How did this confrontation come to pass? Both the necessity of arming a passenger liner and pretending it was a warship, and the building of the Admiral Scheer and her sister ships for the express purpose of commerce raiding, find their roots in the events, political decisions, re-armament polices, war plans, naval traditions, and blunders that arose in pre-war Britain and Germany. But this event holds a significance beyond the battle itself. The sinking of the Jervis Bay symbolizes the end of an era in naval warfare. The Armed Merchant Cruisers of the Second World War inherited a long, sometimes noble and sometimes ignoble history. Long employed in blockade or patrol duty, armed merchant cruisers ventured out for the first time to escort convoys, a defensive duty for which they were eminently unsuited, and for which the Jervis Bay paid a fearful price.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Armed Merchant Ships: A Background
Chapter 2 Rebuilding the German Navy between the Wars
Chapter 3 The Royal Navy between the Wars
Chapter 4 War: September 1939 to November 1940
Chapter 5 The Battle between HMS Jervis Bay and the Admiral Scheer
Chapter 6 The Continued Voyage of the Admiral Scheer
Chapter 7 Götterdämmerung: Twilight of the German Surface Raiders
Chapter 8 The Reasons Why
Chapter 9 Last Things
Selected Convoy Code Designations
List of Merchant Ships in Convoy HX-84
List of Jervis Bay Crewmen Lost in the Battle
List of Jervis Bay Survivors
Notes
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index
Photo sections follow page and page .
