If
the Gods are Good - The Sacrifice of HMS Jervis Bay
Authors:
Gerald L Duskin & Ralph Segman
ISBN:
0859791076
Publishers:
Crécy Maritime
Price
£10.95 RRP UK
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher’s information on
the book
This is the enthralling and, at times, harrowing account of one of the greatest and most heroic naval battles of World War II. On 28th October 1940 HMS Jervis Bay, an ancient cargo ship armed with a small number of obsolete guns, set out to escort 37 freighters and tankers across the North Sea. Unexpectedly discovered by the Admiral Scheer, one of Germany’s most feared pocket battleships, the Jervis Bay captain immediately dispersed convoy HX84 to hide in the twilight of a rising winter storm. Outgunned and with no hope of survival, Captain Fegen and over 190 of the 256 Jervis Bay crew nevertheless then sacrificed themselves as they took the battle to the enemy in a one-sided duel with the Admiral Scheer, as they fought to secure the safe passage of the ships in their charge. This sacrificial battle is fully placed in both its contemporary naval and political contexts and includes graphic descriptions of battle scenes and action aboard the ships, together with the harrowing aftermath as men struggled to survive in the icy seas. Personal stories are recounted for the first time, depicting courage and resourcefulness beyond the call of duty. For his valour, Captain Fegen was posthumously awarded Britain’s only Victoria Cross for convoy defence. Fully researched and written to enthral, the reader is taken directly to the heart of the action. Graphic battle scenes and tales of heroism will appeal to military historians and avid readers of adventure stories alike.
REVIEW
"If
the gods are good and we meet with the enemy, I shall take you in as close as I
possibly can", promised Captain Fogarty Fegen to his 256 man crew. With seven old six-inch guns, the Jervis Bay
was the only armed protection for a 37-ship North Atlantic convoy.
This book is described on
the cover as ‘one of the greatest David & Goliath stories of the history of
sea battles’. A very apt way of
describing a meeting between a Panzerschiffe (armoured ship) or pocket
battleship as we called them and an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) or Admiralty-made
coffin as they were nicknamed. This was
not a fight it was a massacre.
Like HMS Rawalpindi (sunk by
Scharnhorst) before them, the whole crew must have known the outcome of such an
encounter; seven 6" mark VII guns against six 11" guns, eight 5.9" and six
3.4". Even Rawalpindi had eight 6"
guns, not much, but one more.
The book tells the story in
some depth, the ships, the captains and the crews. We start with the build-up to the actual battle, if indeed such a
one-sided encounter can be called a battle, with Scheer breaking out above the
Arctic Circle into a storm, when two of her crew are washed overboard. At that stage they were fighting the
greatest enemy of all seamen, the cruel sea.
The authors then discuss
earlier times when the scuttling of the German High Seas fleet took place at
that great harbour, Scapa Flow, which was once of such strategic importance.
There is a complete chapter
of this scuttling of the German ships in WWI and the subsequent build-up of the
German navy as the 1930s progressed.
Scheer’s days nearly ended
very early in the war when on the 1st September 1939, she was attacked by the RAF 110 Squadron,
only slight damage was sustained.
One chapter covers the
career of Scheer’s Captain, albeit the actual ranks are given as that of US
naval officers eg Ensign and Lieutenant junior grade.
How Jervis Bay became to be
conscripted as an AMC is described in chapter 4 followed by a chapter on Edward
Stephen Fogarty Fegen, who became captain of Jervis Bay and eventually was
posthumously awarded the VC. Before that
we read of his career and rise through the Wardroom. At one time he is described as a man with ‘no side’. Like Nelson he promised, ‘if the Gods are
good to us and we meet the enemy I shall take you as close as I possibly
can’. He must have known, with such
small guns that like Ajax and Achilles you needed to get within range or you
had no chance, not with guns manufactured in 1895 with a problematical maximum
range of 10,000 yards.
One has to be aware of
Americanisms and spellings when reading this book and some of the references
are rather amusing eg on page 69 the author states that Hong Kong was one of
the two ports where British naval officers were permitted to carry umbrellas in
uniform. I suspect these may have been
Wanchai Burberrys, which in the monsoon season we all carried, not just
officers. (These were oiled paper
umbrellas made in Hong-Kong, which possessed a highly pungent smell when used
for the first time. So called because
the naval blue raincoats were called Burberrys. They cost $1 Singapore ($2 Hong Kong, 2s4d or 24p each when I
last purchased one). It could of course
be my memory; perhaps officers carried smart black ones.
Captain Fegen joined the
ship on 1 April 1940 and remarked that perhaps it was an April Fool: is that a term Americans understand?
The convoy HX84 may have had
a chance if the escorts from Canada could have stayed longer and if the escorts
that came out to meet it could have come further out, but as it was, convoys
had a 10-day gap in the Atlantic.
Imagine that, ten days at 9 knots with just one AMC escorting 37
ships.
There is an interesting
discussion about SS Mopan a refrigerated banana boat which Scheer encountered
before she found the convoy. Should her
captain have used his radio to warn others?
All he had to do was to order the radio operator to send repeated ‘R’
(Raider) and news would have been out.
He knew of the convoy because he had been invited to join it.
It seems that whatever their
action, Mopan may have delayed Scheer, thereby causing her to lose some
daylight. It is said the crew rode
across to the German ship very leisurely.
It is now too late to condemn, surely we should give him the benefit of
the doubt.
Rob Jerrard