diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 1f67f3be69..9ba081fe71 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@
 
 
 3.11.1
+ * Fix cassandra-stress hang issues when an error during cluster connection happens (CASSANDRA-12938)
  * Better bootstrap failure message when blocked by (potential) range movement (CASSANDRA-13744)
  * "ignore" option is ignored in sstableloader (CASSANDRA-13721)
  * Deadlock in AbstractCommitLogSegmentManager (CASSANDRA-13652)
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/StressAction.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/StressAction.java
index a90f9ff593..e634f14301 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/StressAction.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/StressAction.java
@@ -418,23 +418,27 @@ public class StressAction implements Runnable
             {
                 SimpleClient sclient = null;
                 JavaDriverClient jclient = null;
-
-
                 final ConnectionAPI clientType = settings.mode.api;
-                switch (clientType)
-                {
-                    case JAVA_DRIVER_NATIVE:
-                        jclient = settings.getJavaDriverClient();
-                        break;
-                    case SIMPLE_NATIVE:
-                        sclient = settings.getSimpleNativeClient();
-                        break;
-                    default:
-                        throw new IllegalStateException();
-                }
 
-                // synchronize the start of all the consumer threads
-                start.countDown();
+                try
+                {
+                    switch (clientType)
+                    {
+                        case JAVA_DRIVER_NATIVE:
+                            jclient = settings.getJavaDriverClient();
+                            break;
+                        case SIMPLE_NATIVE:
+                            sclient = settings.getSimpleNativeClient();
+                            break;
+                        default:
+                            throw new IllegalStateException();
+                    }
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    // synchronize the start of all the consumer threads
+                    start.countDown();
+                }
 
                 releaseConsumers.await();