11-05-2020, 11:04 AM
On 5 November 1940, the British armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay, a commercial ship hastily fitted with not-quite-obsolete 6-inch (152mm) guns, escorting a convoy of 37 almost-completely-unarmed vessels, encountered the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer – a heavy cruiser hull with not-quite-battleship-sized main guns.
Even the pocket battleship’s 150mm secondary guns, being more modern, had longer range and greater destructive power than the AMC’s armament, in spite of their slightly smaller bore.
Ordering the convoy to scatter, Jervis Bay’s captain trailed a smokescreen and attacked the German. Admiral Scheer’s captain kept beyond the range of the AMC’s weapons and blasted the British ship apart with his 280mm main guns, killing most of the crew. It took just 22 minutes once the German vessel began firing.
Because Jervis Bay had bought time for the convoy to disperse, however, Admiral Scheer was able to sink only five of the other 37 ships.
“The convoy had scattered in safety while Jervis Bay, outgunned and ablaze, matched shot for shot with a German battleship.” — Douglas Reeman, Rendezvous—South Atlantic (novel, 1972, page 8)
Even the pocket battleship’s 150mm secondary guns, being more modern, had longer range and greater destructive power than the AMC’s armament, in spite of their slightly smaller bore.
Ordering the convoy to scatter, Jervis Bay’s captain trailed a smokescreen and attacked the German. Admiral Scheer’s captain kept beyond the range of the AMC’s weapons and blasted the British ship apart with his 280mm main guns, killing most of the crew. It took just 22 minutes once the German vessel began firing.
Because Jervis Bay had bought time for the convoy to disperse, however, Admiral Scheer was able to sink only five of the other 37 ships.
“The convoy had scattered in safety while Jervis Bay, outgunned and ablaze, matched shot for shot with a German battleship.” — Douglas Reeman, Rendezvous—South Atlantic (novel, 1972, page 8)