Bruce A. Watson

Atlantic Convoys and Nazi Raiders (eBook, PDF)

The Deadly Voyage of HMS Jervis Bay

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 216
• Altersempfehlung: ab 7 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. Dezember 2005
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780313055645
• Artikelnr.: 37829699

Autorenporträt

BRUCE ALLEN WATSON is Emeritus Professor of Art History at Diablo Valley College. He has authored several books and many articles on art and sociology. His military history studies include The Great Indian Mutiny (Praeger, 1991), Sieges (Praeger, 1993), Desert Battle (Praeger, 1995), and When Soldiers Quit (Praeger, 1997).

Inhaltsangabe

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
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