November 5, 1940: The armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay was sunk by the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. Built by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd. in England for the Australian Commonwealth Line, (later Aberdeen & Commonwealth line) she was one of five sisters (3 built by Vickers and 2 others, almost sisters, built by William Beardmore & Co., Glasgow) intended for the England to Australia route. At just a little under 14,000 tons, these ships were designed to carry about 724 passengers. Jervis Bay was launched on Jan.17, 1922 and made her maiden voyage (London to Brisbane) on Sept.26, 1922. She continued to service this route until she was requisitioned by the Admiralty in Aug. of 1939.

Jervis Bay was then armed with seven 6 in. guns. The guns, not the latest in naval technology, had been made around the turn of the century. In November of 1940 Jervis Bay was the only escort for convoy HX-84, a 37 ship convoy bound for England. Late in the afternoon of Nov.5th the Admiral Scheer spotted the convoy. Not having  much daylight left Scheer attacked the convoy. The commander of the Jervis Bay, Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen, ordered the convoy to scatter and aimed his ship straight at the Scheer. Hopelessly outclassed by the Scheer's 11 in. guns, this was nothing less than a suicide mission for the Jervis Bay. However, this action delayed the Scheer from reaching the convoy. (the Admiral Scheer later sunk between 5 and 7 ships in the convoy) The battle between the Jervis Bay and the Admiral Scheer lasted about 24 minuets. At one point the bridge on the Jervis Bay was hit killing several officers and removing Capt. Fegen's arm. He was later killed by another shell. There were 255 officers and men on the Jervis Bay, 65 were rescued by the Swedish freighter  Stureholm. One hundred and ninety died in the attack. For his gallant action Capt. Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross. (posthumously)

The story does not end there, the Stureholm was sunk by the U-96 on Dec.11, 1940  with the loss of all hands. This included several members of the Jervis Bay crew, who had signed up to crew the Stureholm.

The U-96 herself is a famous boat. Lothar-Günther Buchheim, a war correspondent, was on the U-96 for one patrol. His experience on board was the inspiration for his book Das Boot. The U-96 was sunk at Wilhelmshaven on  March 30,1945 by U.S. Bombers.

© 2005 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com

HMS Jervis Bay