Convoy HX 84

Convoy HX 84 was the 84th convoy in the numbered series of convoys outbound from Halifax, Nova Scotia to various ports in the United Kingdom. This particular convoy consisted of 38 merchant ships along with their lone escort, the namesake ship of the *Inconspicuous-class* heavy cruisers. As they made their way outbound from Halifax and headed to Liverpool, UK, the formation was intercepted by the German pocket battleship *Admiral Scheer*. The insuring gun battle ended in *Admiral Scheer* being sunk.

## Background

Before departing on 28 October 1940, the escort of HX 84 was abruptly shifted. The armed Merchant cruiser *HMS Jervis Bay* was torpedoed en route to Halifax and the position had to be filled however, the only ship available for an immediate Transatlantic crossing was the heavy cruiser *HMCS Inconspicuous*.

*Admiral Scheer* coincidentally started her first combat sortie on 31 October 1940 when she slipped past Royal Navy assets in the Denmark Strait and entered the open Atlantic. Later that evening, the radio room of *Scheer* decrypted information identifying HX 84 and it's present course, which Captain Krancke promptly moved to intercept. Rather strangely, neither *Jervis Bay* or *Inconspicuous* was mentioned in the report, leaving Krancke under the assumption that the convoy was unguarded.

## Prelude

While *Admiral Scheer* had the general route of the convoy, it was not privy to updates on the convoys current location. Even with the new FuMO 26 radar set installed during her summer 1940 refit, it's range of approximately 13.5 nmi limited it's effectiveness in locating the convoy's current heading. On 5 November, the convoy was finally spotted by one of *Scheer's* Arado 196 seaplanes but due to cloud cover and a range of 170 nmi, the aircraft were not detected by the ships of HX 84.

The Captain of *Inconspicuous* was also more than aware of their lack of detection equipment and similarly to her soon to be German adversary, deployed the ships large compliment of seaplanes to provide warning against possible U-Boat attacks. Unusually for the Northern Atlantic, the weather had been somewhat calm for the days leading up to and including 5 November, which provided excellent conditions for seaplane operation.

After boarding and sinking the *S.S. Mopan* which was discovered by *Sheer*, the German raider was rapidly closing with the convoy. As daylight began to fade and one of the Supermarine Walrus seaplanes begun it's return to the ship, a lone warship was spotted on the horizon, approaching the convoys direction at high speed. Reporting this to *Inconspicuous*, the bridge crew aboard the heavy cruiser immediately feared the worst. They were not scheduled to meet with their British escorts for sometime and the warship was operating alone, indicating a commerce raider. The convoy was quietly ordered to scatter and *Inconspicuous* kept on course, hoping to buy time for the merchantmen to escape.

*Admiral Scheer* detected a single ship on her radar set at 26,000 yards. With twilight approaching and neither of his seaplanes ready to launch again, Captain Krancke assumed that another lone merchant man had haplessly wandered into his path. Hoping to try a similar strategy used against *S.S. Mopan* hours earlier, *Scheer* maintained radio silence and steadily closed the engagement range. At approximately 18:30, *Admiral Scheer* made visual contact with the ship in question at 17,600 yards. With the light quickly leaving the sky, her lookouts could no positively identify the ship they still believed to be a merchant ship.

At 14,000 yards, Captain Krancke signaled the unknown ship by lamp, ordering them to stop immediately and under no circumstances use their radio set. In accordance to these orders, the unidentified ship turned her broadside to *Admiral Scheer*, predictably to comply or attempt to flee. Instead, the ship answered the signal with one of her own, "*Only the fit survive*" as eight muzzle flashes illuminated the heavy cruiser against the rapidly approaching darkness.

*(Note, "Only the fit survive" is the ships motto, just leaving this here temporarily.)*

## Battle

With the gunners of *Inconspicuous* tracking the course of *Admiral Scheer* while she was closing the range, there was plenty of time to dial in the range and prepare to fire. Besides their relatively advantageous position, the Inconspicuous and her crew had already earned a reputation for being a straight shooting ship. Having won the *'Niobe Gunnery Excellence'* award 5 times during the interwar period, 3 of those consecutively. The first salvo bracketed the German ship at 18:49, sending geysers of water arching into the sky. Not expecting to be fired on immediately, the crew of *Admiral Scheer* were somewhat slow to return fire however, her frontal 11 inch gun turret entered the battle in a few minutes.

By the third salvo, the gunners aboard Inconspicuous had found their range. Shells destroyed one of the forward facing 5.9 inch secondary guns and cut through her mast, severing the wires leading to her FuMO radar set. Even without the gunnery data from her radar, *Admiral Scheer* finally bit back against the Canadian cruiser on her fourth salvo, as 11 inch shells tore through the ship's hanger and superstructure, shredding all aircraft present and causing a fire to erupt. Two 11 inch fell short of the ship where they detonated on contact with the water, causing minor flooding due to shrapnel damage.

As the range further closed to 10,000 yards, the secondary armaments of both vessels began to open fire. With one of her frontal secondary guns destroyed, *Admiral Scheer* began a turn to port which would ultimately doom the ship. About halfway into the turn, a series of decisive hits were made by *Inconspicuous*. A pair of shells struck *Admiral Scheer* astern below the waterline, one of the shells exploding within the steering compartment while the other caused heavy splinter damage to the after switchboard, leading to an electrical fire. With steering unresponsive, the Panzerschiff was sent into a helpless circle. The guns of *Admiral Scheer* did not waver, 5.9 inch shells tore the aft fire control director of *Inconspicuous* in half and holed both of her funnels, drawing heavy fumes down into her engine rooms. Additional hits by 5.9 inch guns damaged her prow and holed the hull below the waterline, causing a mild list which was soon corrected by counter flooding.

Aware of the potential danger of enemy torpedoes, the Captain of *Inconspicuous* held the range at 10,000 yards. By the time *Admiral Scheer* had begun the turn back around, bringing her 'A' turret back to bear, *Inconspicuous* continued her dismantling of the Panzerschiff. 8 inch shells struck the side armor and gun barrels of 'A' turret, putting half of the ships main battery out of action. While the ship was likely saved by the subsequent flooding of the main magazine, it was the beginning of a series of futile actions made by the ships crew. The secondary battery of *Inconspicuous* repeatedly raked the upper works of *Admiral Scheer*, filling the air with deadly shrapnel. Subsequent shell hits were taking their toll on the German ship, multiple fires blazed across her decks and she was settling by the stern due to the lack of power for effective damage control.

By 19:25, *Admiral Scheer* fired the last salvo from her rear 11 inch gun turret. *Inconspicuous* was struck below the bridge, knocking out two 4 inch secondary guns and jamming the roller gear for 'B' turret in place. At 19:29, all gunfire had ceased from the German raider as splinters and gunfire had taken their toll. Uncontrollable flooding had progressed enough to fully submerge the stern of the ship with water openly flowing over the rear decks. Captain Krancke ordered scuttling charges to be set and the abandon ship command was issued at 19:38, with the crew taking to the water soon after.

*Admiral Scheer* slipped below the surf stern first at 20:03 after which *Inconspicuous* began rescue efforts.