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HMS Jervis Bay
HMS Jervis Bay was a British liner later converted into an armed merchant cruiser, pennant F40. She was launched in 1922, and sunk in battle on 5 November 1940 by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer in an action which earned her captain the Victoria Cross.
The ship was launched as the Commonwealth Line steamer Jervis Bay, named after the Australian bay of that name (the line named all its passenger liners after bays). She was one of five large liners that operated in the immigrant trade between the United Kingdom and Australia.
The Commonwealth Line had problems with high operating costs and frequent industrial action, so in 1928 their ships were sold to the White Star Line who operated them in the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line – an entity created by merging into the Aberdeen Line, which was a White Star subsidiary. In new ownership, TSS Jervis Bay used Southampton as her UK port instead of London, as had been the case under Commonwealth Line management. In 1931, she was converted to a one-class ship. The accommodation was altered from 12 first class and about 712 third class passengers to a tourist class ship carrying 270 passengers. This could be increased by the addition of temporary cabins to a total of 540.
Jervis Bay was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in August 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War, and armed with seven 1898-vintage BL 6-in (152 mm) guns and two QF 3-inch (76.2 mm) guns of 1894 design. The 6-inch guns were in single centre-pivot mountings with open-backed shields, to protect against blast and splinters at best, being arranged as follows: Two on either side of the forecastle and two either side of the upper deck behind the break of the forecastle, giving two guns firing dead ahead; two guns were mounted on the quarterdeck and the seventh was on the aft deckhouse roof with full command of the stern, giving the ship three guns able to fire dead astern, or a total of four 6-inch guns available on broadside. The 3-inch AA guns were mounted on either side of the boat deck, just aft of amidships, in unusual circular open-topped casements, giving each weapon a 180-degree arc of fire to the side; they would be capable of contributing to broadside fire in an emergency.
After her acquisition and commissioning, Jervis Bay was initially placed under the Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic. She was involved in an unfortunate incident on 13 October 1939 while at Rosyth, ramming the old S-class destroyer HMS Sabre (H18). Sabre was under repair for over six months. Jervis Bay then became a convoy escort in May 1940, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda. Given brief repairs at Halifax, Nova Scotia, she became the sole escort for the 37 merchant ships of Convoy HX 84 from Bermuda and Halifax to Britain (Jervis Bay escorted a convoy from Bermuda which merged at sea with a convoy from Halifax, since larger convoys suffered fewer losses than smaller ones due to the relatively smaller defensive perimeter of the larger surface area).
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 (11inch) 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. Although the German's shells ravaged Jervis Bay, and Fegen was wounded and many crewmen 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.
Jervis Bay's sacrifice bought enough time for the convoy to begin to scatter. According to some sources[who?], further time was bought by the freighter SS Beaverford, which engaged Admiral Scheer for over four hours. However, the account published after the war by the captain of Admiral Scheer and the timings of the sinking show that there was no such engagement. Beaverford fled with the other ships, but was sunk during the night. In the end, the German cruiser was only able to sink five merchant ships, and the remainder of the convoy escaped.
Sixty-eight survivors of Jervis Bay's crew of 254 were picked up by the neutral Swedish ship Stureholm (three later died of their wounds). Guy Byam was one of the survivors of the sinking; he was later killed while covering an air raid over Germany for the BBC.
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HMS Jervis Bay
HMS Jervis Bay was a British liner later converted into an armed merchant cruiser, pennant F40. She was launched in 1922, and sunk in battle on 5 November 1940 by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer in an action which earned her captain the Victoria Cross.
The ship was launched as the Commonwealth Line steamer Jervis Bay, named after the Australian bay of that name (the line named all its passenger liners after bays). She was one of five large liners that operated in the immigrant trade between the United Kingdom and Australia.
The Commonwealth Line had problems with high operating costs and frequent industrial action, so in 1928 their ships were sold to the White Star Line who operated them in the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line – an entity created by merging into the Aberdeen Line, which was a White Star subsidiary. In new ownership, TSS Jervis Bay used Southampton as her UK port instead of London, as had been the case under Commonwealth Line management. In 1931, she was converted to a one-class ship. The accommodation was altered from 12 first class and about 712 third class passengers to a tourist class ship carrying 270 passengers. This could be increased by the addition of temporary cabins to a total of 540.
Jervis Bay was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in August 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War, and armed with seven 1898-vintage BL 6-in (152 mm) guns and two QF 3-inch (76.2 mm) guns of 1894 design. The 6-inch guns were in single centre-pivot mountings with open-backed shields, to protect against blast and splinters at best, being arranged as follows: Two on either side of the forecastle and two either side of the upper deck behind the break of the forecastle, giving two guns firing dead ahead; two guns were mounted on the quarterdeck and the seventh was on the aft deckhouse roof with full command of the stern, giving the ship three guns able to fire dead astern, or a total of four 6-inch guns available on broadside. The 3-inch AA guns were mounted on either side of the boat deck, just aft of amidships, in unusual circular open-topped casements, giving each weapon a 180-degree arc of fire to the side; they would be capable of contributing to broadside fire in an emergency.
After her acquisition and commissioning, Jervis Bay was initially placed under the Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic. She was involved in an unfortunate incident on 13 October 1939 while at Rosyth, ramming the old S-class destroyer HMS Sabre (H18). Sabre was under repair for over six months. Jervis Bay then became a convoy escort in May 1940, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda. Given brief repairs at Halifax, Nova Scotia, she became the sole escort for the 37 merchant ships of Convoy HX 84 from Bermuda and Halifax to Britain (Jervis Bay escorted a convoy from Bermuda which merged at sea with a convoy from Halifax, since larger convoys suffered fewer losses than smaller ones due to the relatively smaller defensive perimeter of the larger surface area).
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 (11inch) 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. Although the German's shells ravaged Jervis Bay, and Fegen was wounded and many crewmen 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.
Jervis Bay's sacrifice bought enough time for the convoy to begin to scatter. According to some sources[who?], further time was bought by the freighter SS Beaverford, which engaged Admiral Scheer for over four hours. However, the account published after the war by the captain of Admiral Scheer and the timings of the sinking show that there was no such engagement. Beaverford fled with the other ships, but was sunk during the night. In the end, the German cruiser was only able to sink five merchant ships, and the remainder of the convoy escaped.
Sixty-eight survivors of Jervis Bay's crew of 254 were picked up by the neutral Swedish ship Stureholm (three later died of their wounds). Guy Byam was one of the survivors of the sinking; he was later killed while covering an air raid over Germany for the BBC.