"Valiant Fight of the Stephen Hopkins" Topic

I was just reading in Samuel Elliot Morrison's "Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1943" about the fight between the US Liberty Ship Stephen Hopkins and the German merchant raider Stier. The Hopkins was hopelessly outclassed, but she put up such a hard fight that even though she was sunk, she did so much damage to the Stier that it had to be scuttled.

link

From the hyperwar Official Chronology of the US Navy
in WWII:

"U.S. freighter Stephen Hopkins engages German auxiliary cruiser Stier (Schiffe 23) and supply ship Tannenfels in a surface gunnery action in the central South Atlantic on the shipping lane between Capetown, South Africa, and Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana. Stier sinks Stephen Hopkins but the German raider sinks after having received heavy damage inflicted by the freighter's Armed Guard (Ensign Kenneth Willett, USNR) and civilian volunteer (Cadet Midshipman Edwin J. O'Hara) gunners, 28°08'S, 20°01'W. Tannenfels rescues Stier's survivors (see 27 October 1942). Ensign Willett will receive a posthumous Navy Cross."

27 September 1942

Damn, that's impressive. It probably helps that I happen to be listening to the music from Victory at Sea.

Thanks for sharing!

Morrison is a really amazing writer, IMO.

The Navy Armed Guards (Navy gun crews on merchant ships) generally did heroic service throughout the war, often manning their guns until the ship sank from under them. Usually to little real effect, sadly, but the incident with the Stephen Hopkins and the Stier is really their shining moment.

For anyone who has an interest in furthering their
knowledge of the USNAG:

armed-guard.com/stories.html

BTW, SS Stephen Hopkins was Stier's second battle with a
merchant ship on which a USNAG crew served.

June 6, 1942: Panamanian tanker Stanvac Calcutta battles German auxiliary cruiser Stier (Schiffe 23) about 500 miles off the coast of Brazil. Two of the nine-man Armed Guard are wounded by shrapnel during the action; Stier rescues the survivors, ultimately transferring 26 merchant seamen and 9 Armed Guard sailors to Japanese custody. One man is sent to prison camp in Germany

Stier took some damage in this first encounter, but not
much.

Not all the USNAG's duties involved fighting the enemy:

"Armed Guard officer on board U.S. freighter Ironclad, at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, reports disturbance among the crew, occasioned by some of the merchant seamen breaking into a quantity of liquor consigned to Admiral William H. Standley, USN (Ret.), U.S. Ambassador to the USSR. Battleship Washington (BB-56) provides a guard of marines from her detachment to bring the rowdies under control. Consequently, Ironclad is withdrawn from the list of ships to comprise convoy PQ 16 so that the incident can be investigated. "