HMS Glasgow (C21)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2019) |
Glasgow
| |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Glasgow |
Namesake | Glasgow |
Builder | Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock |
Laid down | 16 April 1935 |
Launched | 20 June 1936 |
Commissioned | 9 September 1937 |
Decommissioned | November 1956 |
Identification | Pennant number: C21 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, July 1958 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Town-class light cruiser |
Displacement |
|
Length | 591 ft (180 m) overall |
Beam | 61 ft 8 in (18.80 m) |
Draught | 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | Four-shaft geared turbines |
Speed | 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) |
Complement | 748 |
Armament |
|
Aircraft carried | Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft (Removed in the latter part of WWII) |
HMS Glasgow was a Town-class cruiser commissioned in September 1937. She took part in the Fleet Air Arm raid that crippled the Italian Fleet at Taranto in 1940. She had the unfortunate experience of sinking two Allied ships during her wartime service, once through accidental collision and the other by gunfire after a case of mistaken identity.
Construction
Laid down on 16 April 1935, Glasgow was launched on 20 June 1936 by Lucy Baldwin, the wife of the prime minister Stanley Baldwin.[1] She entered service without some components of her main armament's fire control system, which were subsequently fitted at the end of that year. She commenced sea trials in the spring of 1937. Designed with a maximum speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) she achieved 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) at standard displacement during her trials.[1] She was subsequently commissioned on 9 September 1937.
Service history
Pre-war service
Upon entering service Glasgow was allocated to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the
Norwegian Campaign
Glasgow remained allocated to the Home Fleet during the first year of the Second World War, under the command of Captain Frank Pegram from July 1939 to April 1940.
With war approaching, Glasgow sailed on 2 September 1939 from Grimsby to patrol off the Norwegian coast with Humber Force to intercept any German commerce raider attempting to reach the Atlantic or any blockade runner returning to Germany. While operating with the Humber Force she in company with the cruisers Southampton and Edinburgh was subjected to a heavy air attack by the Luftwaffe on 9 October 1939, but suffered no damage despite 120 bombs being dropped on the ships.[2]
On the outbreak of war, she operated off the
On 9 April 1940, she was attacked off Bergen by Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 aircraft and damaged by two near misses. Both bombs fell about 15 feet (4.6 m) from the ship's side, one bursting on impact abreast station 70 and the other under water further forward. A large proportion of the bomb which burst on impact entered the ship three feet (0.91 m) above the lower deck level, holing an area of approximately six by three feet (1.83 by 0.91 m) with about 60 scattered splinters entering the ship's side in all. The ship's movement allowed a considerable quantity of water to enter the hull causing the messdecks between stations 53 – 74 to be flooded by one foot (30 cm) of water. Some minor underwater damage and a small amount of flooding occurred further forward, probably as a result of the other bomb. In addition the forward 'A' turret was temporarily out of action. Two crew members were killed and five were wounded. After returning to Scapa Flow on 10 April for temporary repairs and transfer of the dead and wounded the ship returned to sea 22 hours later.[4]
On 11 April 1940, during the
Mediterranean service
Whilst operating in home waters after the withdrawal from Norway, Glasgow accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer HMS Imogen in thick fog off Duncansby Head on 16 July 1940. Glasgow was able to rescue the majority of the destroyer's crew but unfortunately 19 lost their lives as well as two crew members of Glasgow.[1]
Following repairs Glasgow was transferred to the Mediterranean where she was employed as a convoy escort and as a reinforcement of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron based at Alexandria. She took part in the Fleet Air Arm raid that crippled the Italian Fleet at Taranto; on 14 November, Glasgow, along with Berwick, HMAS Sydney and HMS York, landed 3,400 troops from Alexandria in Piraeus. On 26 November, Glasgow, HMS Gloucester and York escorted a supply convoy from Alexandria to Malta.
On 3 December Glasgow was attacked by Italian aircraft while anchored in
Far East service
As a result of her diminished capability Glasgow was allocated to the Indian Ocean, leaving Alexandria on 12 February 1941 and passing through the Suez Canal.
At midnight on 9 December 1941, Glasgow sank the
On 19 March 1942, Glasgow escorted convoy WS-16 from the UK to South Africa. In April Glasgow again underwent temporary repairs, this time in Simonstown, South Africa. She subsequently sailed to the US for permanent repairs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard from 6 May onwards. As well as repairing the damage from her 1940 torpedo attack, additional 20 mm Oerlikon cannons were added to improve her close range anti-aircraft capability.[1] It was also decided to improve her radar suite by replacing her existing Type 286M radar with the new Type 271, while a Type 284 fire-control radar to control her main armament, type 285 and 282 aircraft warning fire-control and Type 281 aircraft warning radars were installed.[4]
Following the completion of her shipyard work, she returned to the UK in August to complete work on her radar installations at Portsmouth. On 3 September she joined the 10th Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow where she was assigned to covering forces for the
In the Arctic and home waters
Glasgow escorted
Between August and September she entered the HM Dockyard at Devonport where her aircraft facilities were removed and additional 20 mm weapons were installed in order to improve her air defences. Her radar was improved by fitting a new Fire-Control Type 283. The opportunity was also taken to install IFF equipment and VHF radio-telephone outfits.[4] Upon completion of her refit she was transferred to join the Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. On 26 October she took to sea the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham to undertake the interment of the ashes of Admiral Sir Dudley Pound and his late wife in the Solent, 30 miles (48 km) off Nab Tower.[9][4]
In December 1943 she formed part of
On 6 June 1944 Glasgow was part of
Modernisation
With the demand for cruisers in the European theatre decreasing it was decided to withdraw Glasgow and modernise her in preparation for the ongoing war in the Pacific. Entering a shipyard on the River Tyne on 3 July 1944 her aft 6-inch turret ('X') was removed to compensate for the additional weight of adding the more powerful anti-aircraft armament needed to counter the threat of
Postwar
On 22 August 1945 Glasgow set out with HMS Jamaica for the East Indies as acting flagship. She transferred to the Indian Ocean arriving in Colombo on 5 October to relieve HMS Phoebe as the flagship of 5th Cruiser Squadron. After serving for two years in the Indian Ocean Glasgow returned to Portsmouth and was placed in the Reserve. Following a refit she was re-commissioned in September 1948 and on 26 October, 1948, Glasgow replaced HMS Sheffield at her new base, the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, as the flagship on the America and West Indies Station.[10] She attended the Halifax bicentenary celebrations in Nova Scotia in 1949, returning to the UK in October 1950.[4]
She was then refitted at Chatham in 1951 before becoming in 1952 the flagship of the
Together with
In 1955 Glasgow returned to the UK, and in May 1955 onwards rejoined the Home Fleet as flagship of the Flag Officer D (Flotillas) before being paid off at Portsmouth in November 1956.[4] The Suez crisis in 1956 caused Glasgow to be temporarily re-commissioned.
Decommissioning and disposal
After the Suez Crisis it was decided that Glasgow was surplus to requirements and was paid off in November 1956. The warship was placed on the disposal list in March 1958 and was sold to BISCO for demolition. Departing Portsmouth on 4 July Glasgow arrived under tow on 8 July at Hughes Bolckow's yard in Blyth for breaking up.[4][1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Waters, Conrad (January 2019), "HMS Glasgow", Ships Monthly: 22–25
- ^ "Royal Navy: HMS Glasgow". BBC. 7 November 2003. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^ German steam trawlers off Norway in 1940 (in German)
- ^ "Navy news". Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
- ^ Parliament of Norway 1947. p. 298–299.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b MacCart, p. 153
- ^ Collins, J.T.E. (1964). The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945. Official History of the Indian Armed Forces In the Second World War. New Delhi: Combined Inter-Services Historical Section (India & Pakistan)., p. 96
- ISBN 978-0850527650.
- ^ "Farewell Dance for "Sheffield" Men". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 26 October 1948. p. 8.
- ^ Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
- ^ a b "A Timeline of HMS and HMNZS Gambia". HMS Gambia. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
References
- Campbell, N.J.M. (1980). "Great Britain". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 2–85. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- McCart, Neil (2012). Town Class Cruisers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 978-1-904-45952-1.
- Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980). British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-922-7.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Waters, Conrad (2019). British Town Class Cruisers: Design, Development & Performance; Southampton & Belfast Classes. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-1885-3.
- ISBN 1-86019-874-0.