Convoy HX 84 and Jervis Bay

5 November 1940, North Atlantic, south of Greenland

German success, but most of the convoy escaped; Jervis Bay sunk

Admiral Scheer broke out into the Atlantic through the Denmark Strait, and on 5 November 1940 her seaplane found convoy HX 84, 37 ships from Halifax with only the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay to escort them. Captain Edward Fegen ordered the convoy to scatter and steered his old liner straight at the raider, firing 6-inch guns that could not reach her. She was wrecked in 22 minutes and sank with 190 of her crew, Fegen among them; the Swedish Stureholm went back after dark and picked up 65 survivors. The time she bought and the falling dark let most of the convoy escape. Scheer caught and sank five ships, among them Beaverford, which fought her alone with two guns for several hours. The tanker San Demetrio was set on fire and abandoned; days later some of her crew found her still afloat, reboarded her and brought her home. Fegen was given a posthumous Victoria Cross, and the Atlantic convoys were held in port for twelve days while the Home Fleet hunted for Scheer.