Interesting story. Thanks for posting.

The US Navy armed the Merchant vessels in WW2 and the US flagged ships in PQ17 had Navy Armed guards aboard.

I have a sense that during the war, there were differences of opinion between Merchantmen and the sailors who protected them. I sensed a little of this in the video when the Americans reached the Russian Island and were ready to call it a day & go home.

History of Naval Armed Guard service during World War II


.............The British depended largely on merchant seamen to man the guns on merchantmen, in view of their comparatively large crews, whereas the United States supplied Navy personnel to man all key positions, with assistance from the merchant crew in passing ammunition, loading, and manning other less important stations. The difference arose in part from the diverse nature of the maritime service in the two countries. In Britain, all merchant sailors were registered under the Universal Conscription Act of August, 1940, placed in seaman pools, and paid both afloat and ashore. They were completely under the control of the Ministry of Shipping and could be required to take gunnery training while in the pool awaiting further assignment. When assigned a gunnery station, British seamen received a shilling a day extra. The Master was in charge of the defense of the ship. But on United States ships the defense of the ship was a responsibility of the Armed Guard officer and his Navy gunners. The Armed Guard officer had the status of a commanding officer in the United States Navy. The United States was unable to assign prime responsibility for manning guns to merchant seamen, for there was no control over them from the time they completed a voyage until the agreed to sign on for another voyage, and, therefore, no means of forcing them to take the required gunnery training. Every facility was offered the merchant seaman while ashore to become proficient in gunnery, but the only training of any importance took place under the direction of the Armed Guard officers while at sea. There was a definite tendency on the part of merchant seamen to stay away from Armed Guard Gunnery Schools in the United States......


Naval Armed Guard: Russian Convoys
........Convoy PQ-17, June - July 1942

The ferocity of German warfare reached a new high in the tragic destruction of [convoy number] PQ 17. In no other convoy to North Russia were American losses so high. We lost more than three fourths of all our merchant ships in this convoy and our losses on this voyage alone were more than one fourth of our total losses in all voyages to North Russia. The reason for these losses is to be found in the fact that merchant ships dispersed on July 4 and were left to shift for themselves. The escorts went west to meet heavy units of the German navy which were reported to be steaming toward the convoy..............
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Years ago, I sailed with an old timer Merchant Marine Chief Engineer. He sailed in WW2 coastwise on tankers. He said he always carried a pistol on watch with him to keep the engine room gang from deserting if they came under U-boat attack during the "Happy Time" they enjoyed off the East Coast in '42-'43. Sometimes the black gang would be locked in to keep them from running.
Old Chief B. T. Lee. What a character. Had a big German Shepard named Brutus. RIP chief.