Lt.-Cdr. Geoffrey Seymour Grenfell

On 7th June 1940, The Juniper, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Seymour Grenfell RN, sailed from Tromso, far north of Narvik, escorting the 5600 ton tanker SS Oilpioneer. At dawn next day she sighted heavy warships and wirelessed an urgent signal on reporting her discovery. Then ordering the tanker to sail independently, she hoisted her battle flags and bravely sailed in to challenge the big ships. Back came the reply that she was the British cruiser Southampton. But she was not, in fact she was the Admiral Hipper (18200 Ton, 1600 crew) accompanied by the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and 4 destroyers. The Hippers heavy guns proceeded to blast Juniper (505 Ton, 35 crew) out of the water. Only 4 crew from the Juniper were pulled from the water, along with 25 from the tanker, to spend the rest of the war in POW camps.