San Demetrio London

Captain E.S.F. Fegen of HMS Jervis Bay received the Victoria Cross for his attack on the Admiral Scheer.

The fires on the ship are clearly not burning oil, but gas. Otherwise, there would be thick black smoke and pouring water on it from buckets would result in an explosive spread (for that same reason one should never try to extinguish burning fat in a frying pan by pouring water on it). Addendum: the oil on board was aviation fuel, not crude oil. There would have been no other way to put the fires out than to use water. I am not sure the original criticism is valid, particularly so as the Chief Engineer was the technical adviser on the film.

Closing credits: This story is based on fact and most of the characters in the film are portrayed from life with their permission. The remaining characters are fictitious, and in such cases any similarity to any incident, name or individual is coincidental.

Featured in Tuesday's Documentary: The Ealing Comedies or Kind Hearts and Overdrafts (1970)