Seajet
...
I am just reading this, and am extremely impressed by both the depth of research and the writing style; this is historical fact, but it reads like a way superior Tom Clancy novel.
Subtitled 'The Sacrifice Of HMS Jervis Bay' it's the true story of a British Armed Merchant Cruiser - a cruise liner with a few old worn out 6" guns bolted on - escorting a convoy early in WWII, and coming up against the vastly superior pocket battleship 'Admiral Scheer' with modern 11" guns, a surface raider designed specifically for decimating Allied convoys.
Just before this a similar armed merchant cruiser, the Rawalpindi, had faced the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, quickly battered into a flaming wreck but helping the convoy to escape.
I have always been fascinated by this story, and have a plaque in my boat ( a leisure boat, made possible by the sacrifice of such people ) " If you think you've got it tough today, just remember the Jervis Bay ".
This book is a treasure, cannot recommend it too highly even as a story for those not into WWII; my only complaint is that it isn't longer, as I don't want to reach the end but can't put it down !
If The Gods Are Good
Gerald L Duskin & Ralph Segman
Crecy Naval press.
Subtitled 'The Sacrifice Of HMS Jervis Bay' it's the true story of a British Armed Merchant Cruiser - a cruise liner with a few old worn out 6" guns bolted on - escorting a convoy early in WWII, and coming up against the vastly superior pocket battleship 'Admiral Scheer' with modern 11" guns, a surface raider designed specifically for decimating Allied convoys.
Just before this a similar armed merchant cruiser, the Rawalpindi, had faced the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, quickly battered into a flaming wreck but helping the convoy to escape.
I have always been fascinated by this story, and have a plaque in my boat ( a leisure boat, made possible by the sacrifice of such people ) " If you think you've got it tough today, just remember the Jervis Bay ".
This book is a treasure, cannot recommend it too highly even as a story for those not into WWII; my only complaint is that it isn't longer, as I don't want to reach the end but can't put it down !
If The Gods Are Good
Gerald L Duskin & Ralph Segman
Crecy Naval press.