HMS Fiji - Fought To The Last Shell

Often, when a ship is largely forgotten, it's due to a short service life. Or, on the other side of the spectrum, an uneventful but long life. In today's video, however, we have a ship with a short, and eventful, service. But one that still gets overlooked a lot of the time.
HMS Fiji, the first of her class. Or sub-class, depending on source. A ship that only lasted about a year in active service, much of it out with battle damage. Yet, despite that, when she was in service, Fiji put in work.
Not least off of Crete, in her final action. Where this cruiser and her crew fought until literally running out of anti-aircraft ammunition. Only then, did the Germans put her under.
That's something worth remembering.
Further Reading:
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uboat.net/alli...
www.world-war....

[@DragonShadowfire1]

That photo of the Admiral Scheer staring down the camera with her main armament made me giggle…that is an outstanding photo, and a perspective that I’m sure not very many had the luxury of seeing without getting blown out of the water. Not sure how you keep doing it, but keep showing us these incredible photos! Cheers for another awesome vid about a plucky light cruiser!

[@waynedavis7245]

I agree with you. That was a great photo.

[@JGCR59]

I wonder if that is the "light cruiser we could have sunk but didn't" in the Denmark strait mentioned in the book about Admiral Scheer by her Captain Theodor Kranke

[@lukasito100]

The foto at 11:50 is Deutschland not Scheer in my opinion. ?

[@JGCR59]

The light cruisers of the Royal Navy were the absolute workhorses of the fleet and suffered accordingly

[@erikmerchant567]

Sounds a lot like the experience the Repulse and Prince of Wales had off Malaysia. Tough times when you are a sitting duck.

[@Patrick-pm1sn]

She was my favorite ship in WOWS in the good old days (when this game was not as insane as today)

[@distracting_games]

She's still good.

[@markmaki4460]

"The British criticized [American] insistence on large [post-treaty cruiser] designs, claiming that American cruisers lacked the vital quality of expendability. The Royal Navy prized its expendable cruisers, and proceeded to expend them in large numbers." - Richard Worth, Fleets of World War II (p. 303)

[@ronaldmiller2740]

S.H.,, MY SON MAX 9 YR.S OLD ,, LOVES THE SCARY GHOST LIKE OF THE SHIPS SUNK UNDER THE WATER AND WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE TODAY.. BUT WE DO LIKE TO VISIT SHIPS THAT ARE STILL AFLOAT TO LEARN ,,IN DIFFERNT STATES ,LIKE THE IOWA,, AND THE NEW JERSEY THAT JUST GOT DRY DOCKED .. MAX AND I- DAD RON,, ENJOY TRAVELING SEEING AND LEARNING ,THANKS FOR THE VIDEOS..

[@haveraygunwilltravel]

Hindsight is 20-20. Although going to Greece in the first place with troops needed in North Africa. How the story of Rommel would have changed had all the troops sent to Greece and Crete had been shipped to and kept in north Africa will never be known.

[@distracting_games]

Love the Fiji in WOWS. I think I got my first kracken in it. Might have that video on my channel.

[@williamashbless7904]

When politicians decide what warship needs to be. What could go wrong?

[@AmandusÖhrn-f9c]

Could you do a video about the Type 1934A class destroyer or the HMS Manchester (C15)?

[@waynedavis7245]

It sounds like incompetence to order ships with no ammunition or very little ammunition into a hot zone. Basically high command was responsible for the deaths and destruction of thoses ships. But that's just my opinion. The crews died a valiant death. Rip

[@mikeynth7919]

It takes three years to build a ship three hundred to build a tradition. The evacuations will continue. - Admiral Cunningham (IIRC)

[@jefferyindorf699]

​@@mikeynth7919Admiral Cunningham was right. The Royal Navy could afford to lose a cruiser or two as long as a majority of the British army could be evacuated. Granted you don't win wars with evacuations, but those trained and experienced troops were vital to the winning of the war. Also those troops knew that the Royal Navy would do everything humanly possible to support them. Which is a very useful thing for them to have in the back of their minds.

[@SennaAugustus]

There were so many planes that it didn't matter. That's just how it was in the Mediterranean.

[@Wee_Langside]

​@jefferyindorf699 Cunningham was right. The troops on Crete had been evacuated from Greece a couple of weeks earlier or newly arrived from the UK, including my father in the Royal Marines MNBDO. Many of the Marines, Australian and New Zealand troops were captured. The story of the defence and evacuation of Crete is full of all the usual military mistakes, bravery, endurance and courage packed into a few weeks.

[@haveraygunwilltravel]

The major wrong decision was to try to hold Crete in the first place and going back to trying to hold Greece. They alread knew that lack of air cover was a disaster.

[@stevobolic8629]

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