If the Gods Are Good: The Epic Sacrifice of HMS Jervis Bay

by Ralph Segman, Gerald Duskin

The authors deliver a stirring account of one of the greatest David-and-Goliath stories in the annals of sea fights: the sacrificial defense of a British convoy by its escort Jervis Bay against the Admiral Scheer, one of Germany's most feared warships. The extraordinary engagement received front-page treatment when it occurred in November 1940, but tales like this are often lost in the great kaleidoscope of World War II, where watershed events tend to overshadow smaller encounters. This is a story of such courage and resourcefulness, however, that it deserves to be remembered by today's history buffs. The book combines an incredible amount of facts with gripping prose to recapture what happened in the North Atlantic when a convoy, escorted by an old cargo ship with a few obsolete guns bolted to her decks, was suddenly confronted by a mighty pocket battleship. It dramatically recounts how the Jervis Bay captain signaled his thirty-seven freighters and tankers to scatter and aimed his ship at full speed straight for the Scheer with its six big guns. It explains how the captain's charge-of-the-light-brigade tactic allowed most of the other ships to escape into the deepening twilight and mounting winter storm and how sixty-five of the 256 men aboard the Jervis Bay managed to survive on rafts. For a full appreciation of the significance of what took place, battle scenes cover the action aboard several ships, including the Admiral Scheer, and separate chapters put the battle in context with contemporary naval and political events. For his valor, the captain was posthumously awarded Britain's only Victoria Cross for convoy defense.

Genres: World War II

270 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2004

Reviews

[Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent well written account of the Loss of HMS Jervis Bay and the attack on Convoy HX84 by the pocket battleship Admiral Sheer.

A good read, a bit hard to get into at the start as it has a lengthy & unnecessary "pre-amble" which sets the scene for World War II. I initially lost interest due to this and put the book down at my first attempt to read it. Anyone familiar with the history & background to the Second World War could skip this Introduction.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something deeply affecting about the story of HMS Jervis Bay; a converted passenger steamer, armed with only a few old guns, she single-handedly held off the vastly more powerful German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer long enough for thirty-two of the thirty-seven merchant ships of convoy HX-84 to escape. Sixty-five men from her crew of 254 survived.