When 1 Ship Saved 30 others - The Sacrifice of Jervis Bay
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On the morning of November 5th 1940, the British merchant convoy HX84 was spotted and attacked by a German pocket battleship. Faced with the destruction of 37 merchant ships and a heavy blow against Britain’s survival, it fell to HMS Jervis bay, the convoy’s only escort, to charge the enemy ship head on and at all costs buy some time for the merchant ships to escape.
Credits:
Animation for this video by:
/ scuffed_lund
/ addaway23
Artwork by:
/ chrisbyflanker
Written, Directed and Produced by:
/ addaway23
Thumbnail text is a quote from an edition of The Illustrated London News hmsjervisbay.com/Story.Illust...
0:00 - Intro
0:37- Convoy HX84
2:53 - World of Warships
4:05 - Admiral Scheer
7:12- Jervis Bay Fights Alone
9:43 - HX84 (largely) escapes
10:43 - The Cost
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Sources:
Bernard Edwards, Convoy will Scatter: The Full Story of Jervis Bay and Convoy HX84
Charles Dove www.iwm.org.uk/collections/it...
Clive Mordaunt www.iwm.org.uk/collections/it...
IWM Interview, Samuel Patience www.iwm.org.uk/collections/it...
John Barker www.iwm.org.uk/collections/it...
Music Credits:
"Rynos Theme" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"Crypto" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"Stay the Course" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Other music and SFX from Epidemic Sound
The biggest thing about this video is actually naming all the known crew that perished in that battle. Other videos just include them as numbers but not this one. Thank you for naming those brave heroes.
I agree.
Present Arms! SOUND TAPS!
Well put, and agree fully with this sentiment!
BZ. Those brave sailors deserve to have their names immortalized for their heroic action.
God bless them all.
My father was a survivor of the Jervis Bay. There was an additional reason the Jervis Bay held back the Admiral Scheer. Bags of cordite on the deck caught fire and exploded. Captain Kranke thought that these were flashes of a gun in action and continued his engagement with the JB long after it actually had anything to fire. He expressed admiration for Captain Feegan's command of his men, though he could not have known his name. The continued firing opened holes below the waterline, but the ship was kept afloat by empty barrels that packed the empty spaces of the former merchant vessel. This too made Kranke decide he had to keep firing. It is judged that the JB stayed afloat for 90 minutes longer than she would have without these barrels, that were placed there for this purpose. The JB and some of the merchant ships were making smoke all through this action and the convoy vessels were partially hidden by smoke, while the JB was outlined against it. The Swedish ship, the MV Stureholm, that rescued the surviving crew disobeyed convoy protocol by going to the survivor's rescue. Captain Olander should not have put his ship at risk, but he held a consultation with his men and they decided that they should try. After rescuing 68 men in three batches they turned back to Halifax and I have a picture of my father-to-be among a crowd of survivors raising glasses of beer in a bar in Halifax. I learnt nothing about this from him. There is a detailed account in a book called "If the Gods Are Good - The Sacrifice of HMS Jervis Bay" that has 14 pages of references, documents and interviews at the back.
Great story
Thanks for sharing that. Damned stupid war.
That is extraordinary. Thank you.
@@notcrazy6288 You can say all wars are "Better avoided than fought, but better won than lost". Yes, you could say stupid for Hitler (with 20/20 hindsight) but once as aggressor he started the conflict what choice did the Allies have but fight or submit to an inhumane madmans beligerance.
@@kennethhanks6712 Yeah man not saying 'stupid' that we fought it, more like 'stupid' that it happened
Wouldnt be a german ship without the radar breaking after fireing its guns...
Wait till the wehrboos see this xD
@@anobody7467 kriegsmarineaboos?
It is just typical.
KMS Bismarck ironically had the same problem after HMS Norfolk and Suffolk accidentally happened upon her and she fired at them.
@@GreyWolfLeaderTW that’s the joke…
My dad was in the convoy aboard the Castilian.,due to HMS Jervis Bays sacrifice he survived..Thank you.
That must be a strange feeling. Assuming that you were born after this battle that you exist because of a great sacrifice in history!! It gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it!!
@@albertoswald8461 Dad was lucky, in the engine room of another ship that was shelled by a U-boat,a torpedo would have killed him. Castilian herself was lucky,Scheers searchlight fell on her but San Demetrio came into the beam and was a better target. Can I suggest you read the book Convoy will Scatter about HX84
My grandfather was a stoker on the Jervis Bay, his name was Alexander Johnson. He is listed as Missing, Presumed Killed. Small world.
@@LonePiper9599 God Bless him.
@@LonePiper9599 all heros on that boat. amazing. they all deserve medals, so sad.
“It takes three years to build a ship, 300 years to build a reputation". - Admiral, Andrew Cunningham
@アフタヌーンヌアクショット 🤓
"It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue." Is the actual quote. It's about the evacuation of Crete and the number of ships lost.
And oh boy, do the British have a long tradition of crazy acts of bravery and courage under fire.
@cameronnewton7053 It comes from having long traditions.... Which in turn comes from having a long history. This means we've fought just about everyone and been friends with just about everyone (see Arctic convoys to Russia in WW2 as an example). It gives a certain perspective. Like seeing bomb damage on buildings from both WW1 and WW2.
Captain Fegen still commanding his ship with an arm blown away and a leg nearly blown away. If ever there was a better moment for.. "Tis but a scratch!"
We practically never hear about the Admiral Scheer, and it's unfortunate Jervis Bay went forgotten as well. Ironic, since we humans love a David vs Goliath story.
We like them better when David wins.
You'd forgotten Jervis Bay??
@@Dewydidit David brought a gun to a knife fight.
well thats because scheer was successful for the enemy. Why would the victors want to talk about a successful enemy ship. It was a heroic last stand worthy of all the royal navy but thats all it was the convoy lost 6 ships to scheer and realistically was more lucky that the raider's radar wasn't working as intended or they would have probably took quite a few more. This was also during the begining of the war where the royal navy was at it's most vulnerable. by 1944 the allies were pretty much unstoppable but in the begining all that really made the convoy's successful is that Hitler required they offer enemy vessels a chance to surrender unlike the american's who just sunk them and left.
not knowing of Jervis Bay is a disappointment to many who are so aware ,was part of my schooling
Edward Fegen, what an absolute hero! Put in an unwinnable position he made the right call, initiating nothing more than a delaying action, even if that mean't his own death along with his crew. He couldn't do anything else, but it served its purpose. By sacrificing himself, he enabled many many more men to carry on living. A true Hero. I'm glad his bravery was recognised and he got his Victoria Cross.
The whole crew were true heroes
See Ernest Evans and the USS Johnson
SS Stephen Hopkins. Captain Paul Buck. Liberty ship. Fought the German raider Stier, was sunk, but compelled the Stier to scuttle itself. The German captain explained to his superiors that his ship was lost as a result of a battle with a light cruiser. It was not a light cruiser, it just fought like one. The captain and most of the crew of the Hopkins were lost. Those who survived completed an epic 30 day open boat voyage across the Atlantic to Brazil.
Yep. 'Hero' is an often misused word. Not in this case.
The bravery of Captain Fegan and his crew, with the famous words of Lord Horatio Nelson ringing in their ears chose to "Engage the enemy more closely" German sailors of the era recalling the battle, talk of widespread admiration and astonishment of the Scheer's crew at the sight of the blazing Jervis Bay continuing to close the distance while under intense fire, its outmatched 6 inch guns glowing white hot in the gathering darkness as the peacetime sailors poured salvo after salvo at the oncoming capital ship. What a fucking legend.👊
Guns glowing white hot! They must have pumped quite a few shells through those old 6 inch guns to achieve that feat. The gunners, if any survived till the order came to abandon ship, were probably so exhausted that even trying to swim for survival was beyond them.
It's traditions like this, and those that precede it and come after it, that make the modern Royal Navy one of the best in the world. No matter what the odds, do the right thing.
The Royal Navy is still the most aggressive and brave of all Navies.
@@hawker1262 During the Napoleanic wars, one British admiral was executed for lack of agression.
@@loddon82 At the evacuation of Crete Admiral Cunningham was advised by some officers to abandon the attempt to evacuate more troops, that they were losing too many ships. Admiral Cunningham's response was, and I quote: 'It takes three years to build a ship, it takes three centuries to build a tradition. The evacuation will continue.'
This is awesome. I was a Royal Canadian Sea Cadet. My corps was call Jervis Bay, after the mentioned ship. In 1996, while at HMCS Quadra (a sea cadet summer training center), I had the honor of meeting Captain Fegen's son. His son was a Lieutenant Commander, and a very friendly fellow. We had quite the talk about the Jervis Bay and his father. 22 years later, I would be the commanding officer of RCSCC Jervis Bay.
Hah, I lived out by Quadra. Did you guys ever stop at the base and have actual food while you were out there?
@@690_5 Food at Quadra wasn't great from 1993-1997. After that it was a little better. I was the Food Services Officer there in 2015 and I had steak night every Wednesday for everyone.
Always makes you feel pride, for some reason even when completely uninvolved and separated by nearly a century; when a man knows his duty and performs it. Regardless of consequences.
Aye
Look up Jack Cornwell, the young lad who stayed at his post even when his gun had been hit and all his gun crew had been killed, and he was mortally wounded. He never quit (1st World war).
SS Beaverford never gets the recognition it deserves in this story. It was NOT an armed merchant cruiser but after Jarvis Bay went down Beaverfords Captain sent out a wireless message saying “It’s our turn now. So long, the Captain and crew of SS Beaverford.” Then proceed to turn and engage Admiral Scheer even though the were not part of any navy, had no obligation to do so, and could of escaped fairly easily due to her speed being much greater then other ships in the convoy. Beaverford held its own for HOURS baiting fire from Admiral Scheer onto itself while dipping in and out of smoke. Beaverford and it’s crew saved countless lives with its sacrifice and received no real honors. They couldn’t get a Victoria Cross since they were not military but they definitely deserve the George Cross which it’s the top award for nonmilitary. I really wish people talked about what her and her crew did that day because I believe she saved just as many lives as Jarvis Bay and did so without the equipment or obligation.
SS Beaverford doesn't get recognition perhaps because it was not at the battle? (Wikipedia): According to some sources, further time was bought by the freighter SS Beaverford which engaged Admiral Scheer for over four hours. But 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 along with other ships, but was sunk during the night.
@@raylopez99 It was present, it was one of the ships in the convoy. The question is how much of a fight the ship put up. I would like to agree with the 4 hour duel that delayed the Scheer, but it may be impossible to justify this.
@@wolfbyte3171 Captain Krancke, commander of Admiral Scheer, paid generous tribute to the gallantry of Fegan & Jervis Bay in his account. He also referred to a small freighter, already on fire, which fired at his ship before she sank. This is believed to have been Kenbane Head. He made no reference to any gun battle with Beaverford, only referring to a ship carrying a deck cargo of timber that Scheer caught up with as it fled at speed far to the south of the main action. The captain's log from Fresno City, another of Scheer's victims, reported "The Beaverford, bearing 110 degrees East South East was attacked and set on fire, distant about 10 miles". It seems Beaverford was attacked around 50 minutes after Kenbane Head, and about an hour before the sinking of Fresno City. There does not seem to have been, therefore, any time for a four hour engagement. The account of the Beaverford action first appeared in 1944, in the magazine Canada's Weekly, and it was republished in the Evening Standard in London. Quite how, when the convoy was scattering in all directions, a four hour engagement could have been witnessed in entirety, is not made clear.
You cant trust the media.
@@dovetonsturdee7033 I mean I would be pretty embarrassed if I got into a gun duel with a unarmed freighter for 4 hours.
I knew of the Jervis Bay and it's heroic fight because I attended the Jervis High School for Boys when living in England in the early 1960's. The ship gave the school it's name and on its walls were depictions of the ship and the battle. The one thing the teaching staff required was that all students put in maxiimum effort regardless of ability and that was instilled into you.
Thar is a great life lesson.. That is now lost.
I like that the loss of these brave soles, was used as inspiration for you and your school mate’s, to further good in this world. !
@@HK-qj4im it's not lost.
Wasn’t the only last stand of an old AMC. HMS Rawalpindi. Another converted liner who fought Scharnhorst and Gnisenau off the Faroe Islands Incredibly Rawalpindi actually scored a hit of Scharnhorst before her destruction. A fate the captain chose rather than to surrender the ship as was demanded of her
That's understandable. I live on a sailboat, SY Reliant, out of Portsmouth New Hampshire. I would sooner sink her myself before seeing her fall into the hands of someone else against my will. It's not something that can be explained to someone who hasn't been responsible for the safety of a vessel along with the souls aboard, and put their life in the "hands" of that vessel. This might seem cheesy, but once you've been through a hairy situation or two with your vessel she really does feel like a person to you. Like I said, it's not something that can really be explained with words.
We need a video of that as well! This one was breathtaking
The Captain of HMS Rawalpindi was Edward Kennedy, father of British journalist Ludovic Kennedy who produced a famous documentary on the sinking of the Scharnhorst in 1971
The story of MV San Demetrio was immortalised in the wartime film "San Demetrio London"
"We’ll fight them both, they’ll sink us, and that will be that. Good-bye"
11:05 the merchant navy never gets the accolades and recognition they so enormously deserve 😢
Yeah I had a paragraph about that in this video but I decided to cut it and spin it into a seperate video
I agree considering how vitally important their task was and that over 30,000 British merchant sailors died in ww2
For the United States, the highest causality rate was not in the Army, Navy, Army Air Force or in the Marines. It was in the Merchant Navy. Victory depended on them facing the danger and always returning to sea. And the end of each crossing of the Atlantic, they could leave the ship and stay out of the war. They were under no obligation to stick it out, unlike those in the regular military. Some survived more than one sinking but continue to sign on with another ship. Much respect for those in peril on the sea.
@@joeelliott2157 absolutely... Whether British, Canadian or American every single merchant sailor in the Atlantic was a hero
They kept Britain supplied with fuel for its war machines and food for its soldiers Without the merchant navy I doubt rationing would have helped by itself Thank you to all the brilliant people who made that crossing, whether they be from Britain, America, Commonwealth forces or any allied nation. You kept my country alive so we could take the fight back to those pesky Krauts
Such brave men. I have no words.
Yea its mystery how the ships didnt sank under weight of their balls.
Later during the war, Atlantic convoys had multiple destroyers, frigates, cruisers, older battleships and light aircraft carriers escorting them.
this really shows how thin the Royal Navy was streched at the time. France had fallen, and the French Navy had been a major part in pre war planning. It was supposed to mostly cancel out the Italian Navy, which would have allowed the British Royal Navy to focus on the German Kriegsmarine and Japanese Imperial Navy. Now, the Royal Navy was fighting alone on 3 Fronts, having to cover 5 Oceans (North Sea, Atlantic, Mediterran, Indian Sea, and South Western Pacific), and most of the fleet were still older ships at this point. The new King George V class battleships were still not finished, same for the Illustrious class armored aircraft carriers (except one each which came into commission at the end of 1940). Many of the newer cruisers were also still not in service, only 10 of the modern and capable Town class cruisers were in commission, none of the Didos or Fijis. 29 of those would be commissioned throughout the war. So most of the early cruiser force was made up of the less capable, small and cheap cruiser designs of the early 1930s (Leander and Arethusa classes) as well as some relics from the first world war (though those were mostly used as coastal defense ships and floating AA batteries).
@@xxnightdriverxx9576 More relevantly was that fears of an invasion were, in hindsight massively overstated, which meant that Britain's decision to withdraw many of its escorts so they could be used to intercept an invasion force was wrong- this meant that the Atlantic convoys were overly vulnerable at this time. German capability to interdict convoys was very limited in 1940 and if the British hadn't made that decision the 'first happy time' likely wouldn't have occurred
Yes. And most U-boats making one and done sorties.
And?
When I worked in retail, we offered military discounts. There were 2 separate times that Merchant Marines asked for the discount. Technically they were not military, I still honored it. They played a pivotal role in the war
The Australian connections. Jervis Bay is a place on the south coast of NSW, in quite lovely surrounds, and is an anchorage of the Royal Australian Navy. Also, the Royal Australian Naval College is located there, and Commander Fegen previously served at the College as an instructor. Finally, since ww2, the RAN has commissioned at least two ships named 'Jervis Bay', that have brought further credit to the name in their own ways.
Good. And the Naval College has an annual dinner in honour of Captain Fegen VC.
Yes
In patrol there is the Brisbane Class DDG and on rotation is the Warramunga Frigate.
Cruiseliner versus a battlecruiser. Crazy brave. Great video.
Panzerschiff and then later reassigned as Heavy cruiser*, the Deutschland class were never Battlecruisers
@@mek1429 Too well armed & armoured to be a WW2 Heavy Cruiser. But I agree too slow to be called a Battlecruiser. I think Pocket Battleship is the perfect name already.
@@ArcticTemper Not more armored or heavier than a standard WW2 Heavy Cruiser like the Hippers. Maybe for a fully treaty compliant HC, but those weren't very good ships.
The Jervis Bay was not a "Cruiseliner" whatever that is. She was an Armed Merchant Cruiser!
@@ArcticTemper Not really. The Deutschlands had belts of 2.4 to 3.1 inches, and deck armour of 1.6 - 1.8 inches. Cruiser standard at best, as was demonstrated at the Plate when Exeter's 8 inch shells were able to penetrate. A roughly comparable type might be the RN's Courageous, Glorious, and Furious from WW1. In their original configuration they had 3 inch belts and 3 inch decks. The first two had 4 x 15 inch guns, and the third, even more bizarrely, was intended to carry 2 x 18 inch guns. These were around 5 knots faster than the Deutchlands. The RN, which really did not know quite what use to make of these white elephants, called them 'large light cruisers' for want of a better term.
Thanks for making this. My grandfather was Chief officer on the tanker MV Atheltemplar which escaped in the gathering darkness. A couple of details have come down to me. The SS Mopan passed through and over-took the convoy that afternoon. It pulled away over the horizon and was the first to be sighted by the Admiral Scheer. It was challenged and ordered to heave to and not transmit . Controversially it did not transmit any warning to Jervis bay or HX84. It was late in the day however and her Captain delayed lowering the life boats as ordered for as long as possible. The Admiral Scheer therefor only encountered HX84 at dusk. At first sighting, the fast approaching warship was optimistically taken to be a Nelson class British battleship. The Sturholm was a neutral Swedish vessel. She escaped into the darkness, but her crew witnessed the fate of HMS Jervis bay. Hours later, they had a vote on whether to return to pick up survivors in the assumption that the Scheer had moved away. The Sturholm took those rescued back to Halifax. On her very next voyage, the Sturholm was lost with all hands. There was a film made about the tanker "San Demitrio, London", her crew almost uniquely being paid for salvage rights when they brought her back to the UK. The Atheltemplar after many adventures and Atlantic crossings was finally lost on the Arctic convoy PQ18 (the next convoy after the decimated PQ17: see Jeremy Clarkson's film)
The Captain of the Stureholm was as brave as Captain Fegen - returning to pick up the survivors, when he did not know where the Scheer was. He had first asked the crew to volunteer. Very well told in "Convoy Will Scatter" (2013) by Bernard Edwards - including the "San Demetrio".
I saw that tanker model in IWM, never knew there was a film! Thanks for the info
Quite appropriate that the crew of the San Demetrio received slvage money, because at that stage of the war merchant seamen's pay stopped the moment the ship went down. Typical attitude of British government which now extends to everyone now they have extinguished our economy with their Covid Covid Covid lunacy, war with Russia and their climate change/net zero religion.
Not transmitting a warning with it's radio may have been for the best. The Admiral Scheer wasted a lot of time dealing with the SS Mopan, picking up the crew. Probably a lot less time would have been used if "RRR" was transmitted and the pocket battleship quickly sank the SS Mopan in response. Would the convoy had scattered merely from an 'RRR' message (being attacked by a raider). What raider? One the HMS Jervis Bay could deal with? It is one of those unknowns.
Without the sacrifice of the Jarvis Bay, I would never have known my Grandad, who sailed in the Rangitiki in the convoy. We do not forget.
One of the saddest and most inspiring stories to come out of WW2. I can never read or hear without getting a lump in my throat.
I am a retired Marine Chief Engineer, and, over the years, I have often told the story of HX-84; The selfless sacrifice of the Jervis Bay and her crew: The skill and tenacious courage of the crew of the San Demetrio; and the courage, humanity, and professionalism of the Stureholm, whose Captain, even while maneuvering to scatter and escape the German guns, took the time to take accurate bearings on Jervis Bay, and then, demonstrated a very high level of seamanship to return and locate her survivors drifting in the dark. Many types of courage were displayed by many men that day. We would do well to emulate any one of them.
The sad aftermath was that the some of the Jervis Bay survivors sailed with the Stureholm on it's next voyage. It was lost with all hands, along with it's captain, within two months, on it's next voyage. The Norwegians have the reputation of being perhaps the best merchant seamen in the world. The Swedes seemed to have been just as good.
The brave T.124. I wish for more stories about them, because it's something I hear seldom about.
It really reminds me of USS Johnston initial one ship charge vs Japanese Battle Group
Johnston vs Center Force yeah
Also HMS Glowworm, who fought KMS Admiral Hipper alone
Yep. Was going to say. In terms of unrivaled courage, and remarkable self-sacrifice, the stories are tragically similar. Commander Evans is a hero, as are so many of his crew. All the men of Taffy 3 fought like lions that day. David vs. Goliath and his entire extended family.
Don't forget Samuel B. Roberts; "the Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship." That's a story to hear from the survivors. "We were cheering like it was a baseball game," said one teenage crewman, when they hit a Japanese shop with a torpedo.
I was I the Sea Cadet Corps in Reading Berks and our unit was the TS Jervis Bay. We were told the story of the vessel and its valiant fight. It was good to see pictorially what happened, Brave men. I joined the Royal Navy straight from school and returned to the unit when I could. Lest we forget.
Yes! I have been waiting for this one for ages , I love the story of Jervis Bay the RN should name a ship after her again
A naval college and territory is named after Jervis Bay in Australia.
@@SpunkmeyerSnrIncorrect. The Royal Australian Naval College is on the shore of Jervis Bay IN Jervis Bay Territory, not named HMAS Jervis Bay. The College is HMAS Creswell. During the intervention on East Timor, Australia used a repurposed ship as HMAS Jervis Bay but was decommissioned fairly quickly. There is a naval cadet unit TS Jervis Bay though. Both the bay and territory aren't named after the ship, as the base was built pre WW1.
I said as Radio Officer on the OCL container ship "Jervis Bay" (GYSJ) in the 1980s. A first generation container ship plying the UK/Australia/NZ trade. I recall a picture of this action displayed in the officer's mess.
Excellent work. The RN and it’s tradition of “Yeah? C’mon, then!” at its finest!
So many men, especially early in the war, went valiantly head first against an enemy that they KNEW was vastly superior ( Taffy 3 for example ) because they knew they were the last chance of saving others ! God Bless these hero's.
What astonishing seamanship and heroism. I really hope the royal Navy has named a ship after this Noble Captain!
Events like this must be kept alive to inspire young boys and men. Well done recounting this heroic action by ordinary men.
Thanks for sharing forgotten stories like this. Really goes to show that the naval war in Europe was allot more than just Bismark vs Hood and U-boats.
Infinitely more! Read up on the Norwegian and Mediterranean campaigns. Maybe not the colossal range and scale of the Pacific campaigns and battles, but almost constant action over the first three to four years of the war.
I agree. The battle of the Atlantic isn't given the same mention that say stalingrad or Kursk is despite it being of pivotal importance in the war
Thanks for a great video, my great grand Charles Edward Jones was on the Ship in the engine room when it went down. They're aren't really a lot of content around all of the personnel's brave actions that day so thanks
He's there - "Jones, Charles E, Junior Watchkeeper, T. 124 R 163221, MPK" at 11:05
Michael Thwaites poem HMS Jervis Bay describing this event always brings tears to my eyes
Brave men all of them. They gave their tomorrow's so we might have a Today. Thankyou all RIP
Chatham Dockyard has a great display on the Jervis Bay. The story always moves me
It’s a rarity to see Swedish involvement in any noteworthy event during this period so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that those brave crewmen were rescued from the miserable conditions in time for more than a handful to be brought back alive!! Also I have sincere respect for the British Captain. Wouldn’t let over charge of his ship even with only one arm left and one leg to speak of. First time viewer, I subscribed and now I’m gonna head over to scavenge for the next video! Hope to see more from you in the future!! Amazing production quality, the animations married perfectly with the narration and it really engaged me to a high degree completely seamlessly! Enough said now… great job! Cheers.
Sadly the M/S Stureholm would be sunk only a month later with the loss of all hands when she was hit by the U96 while returning to Sweden. The Swedish merchant marine would pay a heavy price during the war.
Thank you for sharing , keeping the memory of these sailors alive. Sadly my first time hearing of their sacrifice
You might like to read "Convoy Will Scatter" (2013) by Bernard Edwards. It's the full story of the Jervis Bay, the Stureholm and the San Demetrio.
Thanks for a comprehensive doco. My dad was navigator on these merchant ships during the war. Those naval escorts of the convoys are part of the reason I can be writing this now- they brought my dad home. And I even used to dive and spearfish around Jervis Bay. Nice the way you included the names of the crew- some would not bother.
The sheer amount of guts it took to steam headlong into a volley of 11” shells knowing that to do so was doom, yet the only way to possibly save those 37 ships is nothing short of super human. I sometimes think of men like this and wonder if the moment came to me how would I act? I like to think that because I have learned of the deeds of such great men I would do the very same, without question. I probably will never know. I am grateful to know more about such men and the desperate times they lived in and the remarkable ways they sacrificed their lives so that we today are still free.
During this epic one sided battle Fegan had the colours run up the mast and at one point they were shot away, so like something out of a boy's own comic, the crew got another colour and actually tied it to the pole where it flew until it was shot away. They don't make them like this anymore
Brilliantly put together. My Father sailed on HMS Franklin on the Arctic Convoys, BRAVE BRAVE MEN!
The San Demetrio's story was the inspiration for one of my favorite books growing up. "Ship Afire" by Richard Armstrong, written in 1961. It is one of four books I kept with me when we had to move to a much smaller house and could not keep our 3,000 book library.
Brought a tear to my eye. Warriors one and all those brave sailors
Glad to know that I'm not the only one
This event can be the biggest sacrify men did for their country in a desparate situation,men could surrender in less worse conditons, but you can not buy or sell bravery it comes from heart. My tears and salute for those men and captain who decide to trade their fate in return of saving their country.
Really good to put a name on all those people who died valiantly Awesome vid as always
Brilliant as always. I had never heard of this incident; the bravery of these men is incredible. Thank you for these stories.
You might like to read "Convoy Will Scatter" (2013) by Bernard Edwards. It's the full story of the Jervis Bay, the Stureholm and the San Demetrio.
A similar last stand was carried out by the SS Stephen Hopkins, a Liberty Ship on her first cargo run alone. She would encounter the german commerce raider Stier and her supply ship. Despite Hopkins being lightly armed, she still managed to cause enough damage to stier that the crew scuttled the ship, but would sink in the process along with most of her crew being killed.
You comparison is hopelessly inappropriate. A lightly armed merchant ship taking on another, more heavily armed merchant ship is not by any stretch of the imagination "similar" to an armed merchant ship taking a major warship. The Stier might have had more guns but she was still an unarmoured ship, vulnerable to the SS Stephen Hopkin's weapons. The Admiral Scheer was to all intents and purposes invulnerable to HMS Jervis Bay's weapons.
@Matt Bowden I see that yes, but I was trying to mention another merchant ship had fought a brave last stand against a more heavily armed ship, not that it was on the same tier or above as Jervis Bay fighting Scheer. Similar may not have been the proper wording for the phrase, but both were incredible acts of bravery
In addition, while Hopkins was in range and stier was unarmored, she was still at a major disadvantage due to her having very little armament. It is by no means "inappropriate" to say the engagements are alike
@@thetype97chiha2 I still don't agree that they are at all similar. Whilst I won't dispute the bravery of the crew of the SS Stephen Hopkins, theirs was an act of defiance and in many respects a completely unnecessary sacrifice - the Stier would have been run down by a commerce protection cruiser sooner or later, as all the German Hilfskreuzers were eventually. To put it bluntly, they did it for themselves, because they didn't WANT to surrender. By contrast, HMS Jervis Bay was lost in an act of duty - her crew sacrificed themselves in the defense of others, because they couldn't afford to surrender, because if they didn't then a lot of people who were counting on them to protect them would suffer or die. There's a world of difference between saying "you may have caught me but I'm not going down without a fight" and saying "I could run, but instead I'm going to fight you even though I know I cannot win, because it is my duty to try no matter how small the odds of succeeding."
When I was a kid in Halifax one of my neighbours was a survivor of Jarvis Bay, a Newfoundland RN reservist and one of the deck gunners. He said his gun couldn't even mar the paint on the Admiral Scheer. Another neighbour joined the RCN and got to scatter his ashes at the site of the battle.
I am reminded of Churchills quote "Give us the tools and we will finish the job. " The crew of the Jervis Bay are the men giving Britain the tools they needed. As mentioned many of these men were not soldiers...but they fought none the less. This gives me hope for humanity...a hope that is being chipped away at these days.
This story reminds me of the norwegian merchant ship MT "Borgestad" attacking german battleship "Admiral Hipper" about 1000 km outside Portugal february 1941. MT "Borgestad" was in convoy SLS64 with 16 merchant ship when they was attacked by "Admiral Hipper". The captain on the norwegian ship told the convoy to spread, and then he attacked the german battleship. The norwegian ship had one very small gun that hardly could damage "Admiral Hipper", but still the norwegians hold out about 1 hour before they sunk. It was time enought for most of the convoy to escape the german battleship. All of the norwegian crew was killed. Norway lost 31 brave men and womens, all of them sivilians, but they saved hundreds of others sailors.
Fegen, Kennedy, and many others RN officers and sailors, in the early years of the war, fought against impossible odds. It looks almost reckless on their part to have confronted such a hugely superior warship, if it wasn't that they HAD to protect the convoy which was under their responsibility. Incredible courage, they showed. It is of the utmost importance to bring this contents to the public. Lest we forget. 193 brave lives...but not an useless waste.
They died so others might live, and to ensure the desperately needed supplies the rest of the convoy carried made it to port. That sacrifice should not be forgotten.
I can’t imagine the chill that goes down a man’s spine when he makes the decision that those aboard Jarvis Bay made. To charge down a foe that completely outclasses yourself in defense of countless others
This made me kind of emotional. As soon as the Jarvis Bay broke away to engage it really started to hit me. They knew what they were getting into....
Seeing shit like this makes me think how far we have fallen… our ancestors were titans, and by comparison we are nothing
Despite having a Navy we can no longer stop rubber dingy's
Just a piece of trivia: I remember reading about the Jervis Bay incident in a comic book in the early 50's when I was about 10 or 12 years old and the story has never left me. The other detail I remember was that Captain Fegen was known as "Fogarty" Fegen. Whether this was a nickname or a second name I don't know but the heroism of this crew has stayed with me all these years.
Probably a Commando War Comic book.
I believe it's one of those British hyphenated names. I've read about this before and I have always seen it spelled as Fogarty-Fegan.
@@albertoswald8461 Thanks for that bit of info; I wasn't aware of that possibility.
@@markfryer9880 I think it was. Being so close past the end of WW2 they were very popular in that era.
Many of her crew were ordinary people performing extraordinary acts of courage
So many great stories about the battle of the Atlantic. The brave sailors of the merchant marine and navy on all side deserve to be recognized for that more. Thank you for this amazing story about what courage really means.
Thank you for the well put together show. I actually had the pleasure of knowing one of the heroes of HMS Jervis Bay. His name was Walter Lloyd Darnbrough. He liked to be called Danny. He was a great guy and told me many stories about life. Rest in peace Danny, thank you for your service.
Another similar situation about 2 weeks later, was HMS Rawalpindi, an armed merchant cruiser, whose Captain, Cloveley Kennedy, facing Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, reportedly said 'We shall stand and fight them both, and we shall be sunk, and that will be that. Goodbye!'. He didn't know the exact ships he was facing, but he stood and fought, buying time for other ships. He was killed and got a mention in despatches, the only posthumous award then available not being a VC.
Great work on this video. HMS Jervis Bay operated out of the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda and it left on it’s final mission from Albouy’s Point in Hamilton City, where there is a small monument dedicated the ship and its heroic Captain and crew.
Their finest hour. May we all be able to make the same decision if ever put in a situation like that. 🫡
@Harupert Beagleton Impossible. Admiral Scheer was faster than the merchant ships. Scheer's top speed was 28 kts, almost twice as fast as the Jervis Bay. That's one of the reasons (and I speculate here) why Captain Fegen chose to fight the Admiral Scheer - he couldn't flee even if he wanted to.
Very few people today would, different times more entitlement, self sacrifice would be a rare event now !
You know, I bet it wasn't even a conscious decision any of those men made, you read survivor stories from this time and they always just seem to say "what else could we have done?" Or "it was our job, there was nobody else to do it for us". And most of these crews during the war would have been young adults, it's a funny breed we had back then.
@@darkdill i would agree with you. but at the same time if she had fled, Jervis Bay was one of the ships most likely to escape, given that she wouldn't have been a priority target when compared to the tankers and tightly packed transports, its reasonable that she could have fled and escaped until Royal Navy escorts were able to arrive, although the chances were slim.
@@hypershadow6997 Perhaps, but that kinda defeats the purpose of an escort ship; To turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble. Smells like an incoming court-martial to me. Though maybe being so outclassed allows for retreat. I don't know all the intricacies of naval warfare expectations in that era.
Well done, glad that bravery such as this is not forgotten.
Take my hat off to the Captain what a genuine hero
Brave men.
Untold numbers fought and died in the battle of the Atlantic, the true deciding factor of WW2. All heroes. Britannia rules the waves. Great story thanks.
I dunno if your muslim overlords let y'all rule anything
Bedtime for bonzo?
@@johnking6252 it's your bedtime? Do they have you on a schedule?
Meds ✌️
Jervis Bay telling all of the little ships it's about to throw some hands was kind of funny to me.
KMS Admiral Scheer was sister ship to the famous KMS Admiral Graf Spee. Both ships were unique Deutchland Class Heavy Cruisers/Super Cruisers/Pocket Battleships. Displacing 14,000 tons, armed with 6 11-inch guns (slightly smaller than the smallest caliber accepted for standard pre-dreadnought battleships), very fast for capital ships (topping out at 28.5 knots), and feared for their capabilities as merchant raiders since they could easily destroy any light cruiser, destroyer, frigate, or armed merchant cruiser escorting a convoy. Irony of ironies that Jervis Bay was 1,000 tons heavier than Admiral Scheer.
Historiograph inspires again.
My mum sailed to Australia on the Jervis Bay before WW2 and spoke of this ship and time many times.
Cheers!
There was a film made in 1943 called San Demetrio London which was based on the story of the ship taking part in this convoy and how they got themselves home again. It is available on DVD from Amazon UK
Thank you for this. Lest We Forget.
Great video but you need to do a follow up on SS Beaverford, one of the other ships sunk. She was a Canadian Pacific merchantman with a mixed British/Canadian crew carrying a mixed cargo including ammunition. Her Captain was Hugh Pettigrew a 60 year old veteran mariner from Scotland. They witnessed Jervis Bay going down and then saw other ships in the convoy being picked off. They had had less than thirty minutes to scatter so Admiral Scheer had plenty of targets. When Kenbane Head the closest ship to them exploded due to Scheer's fire Pettigrew ordered his ship turn around. Their radio operator who had been keeping up a steady stream of reports sent one final message "It is our turn now. So long. The captain and crew of SS Beaverford". With than they burst back through the smoke of Kenbane Head's sinking taking Scheer by surprise. Beaverford had only one three inch gun fore and a single 4inch gun aft for defence against U-boats but their first shot landed close to Scheer and gained her full attention. Pettigrew using Beaverford's speed advantage started to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Scheer emerging from and disappearing into the smoke, waiting until Scheer to fire and then ordering a sudden change of speed and direction to put the Germans off. into the night the battle raged finally after FIVE HOURS the game was up. Beaverford was on fire from end to end, her engines damaged. Scheer had fired 83 rounds from her main guns and 71 from her secondaries but only 27 had found Beaverford and it wasn't enough to stop her fighting on. To finish her off Scheer fired a torpedo that struck Beaverford's bows at 22.45 setting off the ammunition stored there and Beaverford went down. There were no survivors. She had distracted Admiral Scheer for so long that only one other merchantman was sunk that night, the rest made it safely into the darkness.
Am aware of this story, but reason it’s not included in the vid is that it’s heavily disputed, and the first hand evidence for such an epic fight is thin on the ground. As all of Beaverfords crew went down with her there isn’t much to substantiate it
Captain Krancke, commander of Admiral Scheer, paid generous tribute to the gallantry of Fegan & Jervis Bay in his account. He also referred to a small freighter, already on fire, which fired at his ship before she sank. This is believed to have been Kenbane Head. He made no reference to any gun battle with Beaverford, only referring to a ship carrying a deck cargo of timber that Scheer caught up with as it fled at speed far to the south of the main action. The captain's log from Fresno City, another of Scheer's victims, reported "The Beaverford, bearing 110 degrees East South East was attacked and set on fire, distant about 10 miles". It seems Beaverford was attacked around 50 minutes after Kenbane Head, and about an hour before the sinking of Fresno City. There does not seem to have been, therefore, any time for a four hour engagement. The account of the Beaverford action first appeared in 1944, in the magazine Canada's Weekly, and it was republished in the Evening Standard in London. Quite how, when the convoy was scattering in all directions, a four hour engagement could have been witnessed in entirety, is not made clear.
The Captain of the Swedish freighter Stureholm was Captain Sven Olander. He deserves mention as it was very brave of him to go back to pick up survivors.
Few stories capture the imagination more fiercely than a valiant and righteous last stand.
The selflessness brought me to tears
Great content. There must be tons of stories like this. Would love to hear them all. Keep up the good work. We should never forget this battle against the worst kind of tyranny.
"So others may live."
It makes me shiver hearing about such deeds. I don't think I would be brave enough to do the same.
HMS JErvis Bay fought bravely and saved her convoy against the Scheer. THe crew of the auxiliary cruiser are heroes.
In all my life long studies of WWII this is the first hearing of this battle of Jervis Bay. Thank you for giving this more visibility.
Excellent video. The National Museum of Bermuda, which is located on the grounds of the Royal Naval Dockyard, has an excellent painting of this action and a display dedicated to the crew. "Convoy Will Scatter" by Bernard Edwards is a very detailed account of the action, also dedicated to the crew of the valiant HMS Jervis Bay.
Really loved this video, we hear so much about the Graf Spee, but hardly anything about her sister ships, so this was very refreshing and educational, thanks so much for making it.
"For there is no greater love than for one man to die for another"
Godspeed to all merchant-marine who made the ultimate sacrifice. You are not forgotten.
The bay would go on to be renamed Vision Bay in 2015.
What are you talking about? Jervis Bay is in Australia and is still called Jervis Bay. Australia's Naval Officer College is there. Check you facts before spreading misinformation.
Thank you for providing this video regarding this brave crew. I had not heard of this battle before. God bless this crew and all others who participated in this fight and rescue.
What an incredible sacrifice that should have never happened, a whole convoy protected by one under gunned ship.
"It takes three years to build a ship, 300 years to build a reputation - We'll stay. Admiral Cunningham, 1943 while evacuating Crete
As it happens, I live not far from a place called Jervis Bay in Australia, which was the birthplace of the Australian Navy. Thanks for telling this story!
Yeah that's where the ship was named for
Coincidentally, in his naval career, Edward Fegen was seconded to the Royal Australian Navy, and during 1928-29, served as executive officer in the Royal Australian Naval College, which was located on Jervis Bay on the south coast of New South Wales.
Some of the stories of sacrifice during that war are just unspeakable. Whilst humanity showed its darkest we also saw its most beautiful. Humans can be truly amazing creatures.
Wow, what a story, there's some brave brilliant people about, when it comes down to it, thank you for bringing the story to life
The Captain, Officers and Crew of Jervis Bay possessed balls of steel and courage of the highest order. May their sacrifice be forever remembered and honored. 🇺🇸
Yep, Brits doing what they could to help their families be fed and raised up into a better world ...which has since been given away by ungrateful, poncy liberal tw@ts
An Excellent video, well thought out and well done. Both the true story and it's retelling are legend.
Heroic indeed. Those two destroyers that took on Scharnhorst and her sister ship may have saved even more lives .
Yep for sure - its a great shame that Acasta's captain was never awarded the VC
@@historigraph I am not sure how many of the crews of the two destroyers made it into the water alive but many from the aircraft carrier Glorious (?) certainly did. They were left to drown or die of exposure. I think just a few from Acasta survived. A British cruiser that was 50 miles away picked up a SOS from the Glorious which they claimed in the subsequent enquiry was garbled. They did of course have a much more important assignment, to get the Norwegian Royal Family and Cabinet back to Britain safely.
With videos like this forgotten hero's will always be remembered
Incredible that the Jervis bay could even float given the massive weight of the balls on board.
Jervis Bay, and crew forgotten HEROES.