The 'Fishing Boat' That Fought A German Destroyer — And Won скачать в хорошем качестве

The 'Fishing Boat' That Fought A German Destroyer — And Won

December 31, 1942. Barents Sea. Fourteen merchant ships carrying tanks and ammunition to the Soviet Union. Escort force: six destroyers, two corvettes, a minesweeper — and two armed trawlers. The trawlers displaced 545 tons each. Their heaviest weapon was a single 4-inch gun firing a 31-pound shell. Coming out of the Arctic darkness: a heavy cruiser with 8-inch guns, a pocket battleship with 11-inch guns, and six fleet destroyers. Combined displacement: 44,000+ tons. The trawlers had no business being there. Converted fishing boats, crewed by former fishermen, armed with weapons from the previous war. But they made smoke to screen the convoy, rescued 81 survivors from a sinking destroyer, and helped win a battle that ended Hitler's surface fleet forever. Over 800 trawlers served. They cost £33,000 each — a tenth the price of a destroyer. Their crews were organised into the Royal Naval Patrol Service. The rest of the Navy called them "Harry Tate's Navy" after a clumsy comedian. The trawlermen wore it as a badge of honour. At Namsos in 1940, a trawler captain endured 31 bombing attacks in five days and won the Victoria Cross. In the South Atlantic, a trawler sank a U-boat in a straight gunnery duel. At the Battle of the Atlantic's turning point, a trawler depth-charged a submarine and rescued an entire merchant crew. The most outgunned warship class in Royal Navy history. The fishermen who crewed them fought anyway. And won. #WW2 #ArmedTrawler #RoyalNavy #BritishHistory #WWII #HarryTatesNavy #RNPS #NavalHistory #WorldWarTwo #MilitaryHistory #BarentsSea #ArcticConvoy #NorthernPatrol #FishingBoat #BritishInnovation #VictoriaCross #Namsos #NorthernGem #LadyShirley #ConvoyEscort