“It is our turn now. So long. The captain and crew of SS Beaverford”
Ehkä toisen maailmansodan urhein viesti. Liittyy todellakin tähän
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_HX_84 veli
@Old Boy , mutta yksi askel jäi ottamatta. Ehkä aikasi kioskikirjallisuus ei edes tiennyt tapauksesta, sillä
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Beaverford upposi by all hands, ja huomion, sinänsä toki ansaitusti varasti urhea Jervis Bay miehistöineen.
Mutta kyllä tämä alus, jonka
@inscout pystyi kaivamaan, on astetta korkeammalla.
Kun sen 60-vuotias kapteeni (Gallipolin veteraani ja kerran I maailmansodassa torpedoitu) ohjasi alustaan hajaantumiskäskyn mukaan, ja vierestä räjähti alus Scheerin kranaatteihin, niin kapteeni Pettigrew kai ajatteli, että tämä on menoa, joten ostetaan muille aikaa. Vaikea sanoa, koska he kaikki kuolivat.
Mutta jumaliste, nämä miehet käänsivät kauppalaivansa (max 15 solmua), kahdella tykillä varustettuna kohti varmaa kuolemaa, ampuivat kantaman ulkopuolelta, kiinnittävät suden huomion ja jatkoivat sitä lähes viisi tuntia.
Kuinka se oli mahdollista? Scheer oli hajottanut tutkansa taistelussa Jervis Bayn kanssa, oli tullut pimeä ja ennen kaikkea, saattue oli hajaantuessaan laskenut savuverhon merialueelle. Tätä Pettigrew käytti hyväkseen.
Äärimmäisen rohkeasta legendaariseen asian korottaa se, että alus olisi päässyt karkuun savuverhoon. Mutta ei! Se jäi otattelemaan tunneiksi taskutaistelulaivan kanssa, välillä savuun ja pimeyteen häviten, taas ulos tullen ja ampuen. Tapaus ei ole saanut ansaitsemaansa julkisuutta, koska SS Beaverford osti paljon aikaa saattueelle, ja sakut eivät päässeet haluamaansa tulokseen. No, tutka rikki ja pimeä, vaikea siinä olisi ollutkaan saattuetta jahdata, mutta Scheerin kapteeni ei juuri tästä taistelusta yksityiskohtia mainitse. Olihan se nolouden huippu, kauppalaiva pidättelee merten tappajaa!
Katsokaa tätä kuvaa. Kun tilanne tulee, haluan olla heidän vertaisensa. He kaikki hukkuivat ja hävisivät sotaan. Mutta jos pitää lähteä, niin näin se pitää tapahtua.
@inscout jatkaa, ole hyvä.
Katso liite: 30882
Captain Pettigrew aboard
Beaverford had begun to scatter but after the nearest ship
Kenbane Head was hit and blew up, he ordered
Beaverford to turn and engage the German heavy cruiser.
Beaverford opened fire with her 3-inch bow gun. The first shot landed unexpectedly close to the German heavy cruiser.
Admiral Scheer turned all its attention to this unexpected challenge firing star shells to illuminate
Beaverford as darkness had now fallen.
Beaverford turned to bring both of its two small guns to bear and fire at the German cruiser although neither gun was in range.
Beaverford sent out a wireless message as it engaged the German cruiser, “It is our turn now. So long. The captain and crew of SS Beaverford”.
Admiral Scheer opened fire on
Beaverford with its 11-inch guns. However
Beaverford used the reserve power of its turbine engines to quickly turn and evade the fire as the shots landed in the water, missing
Beaverford although the shrapnel started small fires amidst her deck cargo. The ships of the dispersing convoy had laid a thick
smoke screen from floating smoke floats and
Beaverford was able to disappear into the smoke screen.
Admiral Scheer, its radar broken from the prolonged bombardment of
Jervis Bay, had difficulty in locating the new challenger in the smoke and darkness.
Beaverford, one of the faster ships in the convoy, had a chance to escape in the darkness, but for reasons unknown, Captain Pettigrew stayed to fight it out with
Admiral Scheer. For the next four hours,
Beaverford played a cat-and-mouse game, emerging from the smokescreen to fire at
Admiral Scheer and then seeking cover in the smoke. Captain Theodor Krancke, in command of
Admiral Scheer, had identified
Beaverford as “Target No. 9” and thought he had destroyed the freighter, only to find the ship reappearing to confront him again.
[11] With
Admiral Scheer fully engaged with this one evasive target, the Swedish freighter
Stureholm was able to return and pick up sixty-five survivors from HMS
Jervis Bay.
[12]
However every time
Beaverford emerged from cover, the ship was hit by
Admiral Scheer'. In all,
Admiral Scheer fired 83 shells at
Beaverford, 71 from its 5.9-inch guns, with 16 hitting the unarmoured freighter, and 12 from the cruiser's massive 11-inch guns, with three making hits.
Beaverford began to take on water and slow. Fires spread on the freighter making it easier for the enemy guns to find their mark. Finally at 22:45,
Admiral Scheer was able to destroy
Beaverford with a torpedo. The torpedo hit the fore part of
Beaverford, lifting the bow and detonating the ammunition in her hold. The ship blew apart and the stern was last seen sliding into the ocean. All aboard were killed in the sinking.
Beaverford had engaged
Admiral Scheer for almost five hours.
[13] Delayed by
Beaverford, the German cruiser was only able to find and sink one more ship from the convoy, SS
Fresno City.
[14] Of the 38 ships in the convoy,
Admiral Scheer had only succeeded in sinking six.
. Vastaus meni mehtään.
