HMS Glorious
Glorious after her conversion into an aircraft carrier
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Glorious |
Ordered | 14 March 1915 |
Builder | Harland and Wolff, Belfast |
Cost | £1,967,223 |
Yard number | 482–484 |
Laid down | 1 May 1915 |
Launched | 20 April 1916 |
Completed | 31 December 1916 |
Commissioned | January 1917 |
Reclassified | Converted to aircraft carrier, 1924–1930 |
Identification | Pennant number: 77 |
Nickname(s) | Laborious |
Fate | Sunk by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, 8 June 1940 |
General characteristics (as battlecruiser) | |
Class and type | Courageous-class battlecruiser |
Displacement | |
Length | 786 ft 9 in (239.8 m) (o/a) |
Beam | 81 ft (24.7 m) |
Draught | 25 ft 10 in (7.9 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines |
Speed | 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) |
Range | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Complement | 842 officers and men |
Armament |
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Armour |
|
General characteristics (as aircraft carrier) | |
Class and type | Courageous-class aircraft carrier |
Displacement |
|
Length |
|
Beam | 90 ft 6 in (27.6 m) (at waterline) |
Draught | 27.75 ft (8.5 m) |
Speed | 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
Range | 5,860 nmi (10,850 km; 6,740 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement | 793 + 490 air group (1931) |
Armament | 16 × single DP guns |
Armour | |
Aircraft carried | 48 |
HMS Glorious was the second of the three
Glorious was
Design and description
During the First World War, Admiral Fisher was prevented from ordering an improved version of the preceding Renown-class battlecruisers by a wartime restriction that banned construction of ships larger than light cruisers. To obtain ships suitable for traditional battlecruiser roles, such as scouting for fleets and hunting enemy raiders, he settled on a design with the minimal armour of a light cruiser and the armament of a battlecruiser. He justified their existence by claiming he needed fast, shallow-draught ships for his Baltic Project, a plan to invade Germany via its Baltic coast.[1][2]
Glorious had an
Glorious carried four
First World War
Glorious'
On 16 October 1917 the Admiralty received word of German ship movements, possibly indicating some sort of raid. Admiral Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, ordered most of his light cruisers and destroyers to sea in an effort to locate the enemy ships. Courageous and Glorious were not initially ordered to sea, but were sent to reinforce the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron patrolling the central part of the North Sea later that day.[14] Two German Brummer-class light cruisers slipped through the gaps in the British patrols and destroyed a convoy bound for Norway during the morning of 17 October, but the British warships received no word of the engagement until that afternoon. The 1st Cruiser Squadron was ordered to intercept, but was unsuccessful as the German cruisers were faster than expected.[15]
Second Battle of Heligoland Bight
Throughout 1917 the Admiralty was becoming more concerned about German efforts to sweep paths through the British-laid minefields intended to restrict the actions of the
The German ships, four light cruisers of II Scouting Force, eight destroyers, three divisions of minesweepers, eight sperrbrecher (cork-filled trawlers) and two trawlers to mark the swept route, were spotted at 7:30 am,[Note 2] silhouetted by the rising sun. Courageous and the light cruiser Cardiff opened fire with their forward guns seven minutes later. The Germans responded by laying a smoke screen and this made spotting targets very difficult. The British continued in pursuit, but lost track of most of the smaller ships in the smoke and concentrated fire on the light cruisers as opportunity permitted. One 15-inch shell hit a gun shield of SMS Pillau, but it did not affect her speed. At 8:33 the left-hand gun in Glorious's forward turret was wrecked when a shell detonated inside the gun barrel. At 9:30 the 1st Cruiser Squadron broke off their pursuit to avoid a minefield marked on their maps. The ships turned south, playing no further role in the battle.[17] Glorious required five days of repairs to fix damage caused by premature detonation and her own muzzle blast.[18] She fired 57 15-inch and 213 four-inch shells during the engagement.[19]
Glorious received flying-off platforms on top of her turrets in 1918. A Sopwith Camel was carried on the rear turret and a Sopwith 1½ Strutter on the forward turret.[20] On 5 November 1918, Glorious was anchored off Burntisland in the Firth of Forth together with the seaplane tender Campania and the battleship Royal Oak when a sudden Force 10 squall caused Campania to drag her anchor and collide first with Royal Oak and then with Glorious. Both Royal Oak and Glorious suffered only minor damage, but Campania was holed by her collision with Royal Oak. Campania′s engine rooms flooded, and she settled by the stern and sank five hours later without loss of life.[21]
Glorious was present at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918.
Conversion
The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limited the amount of capital ship tonnage and the Royal Navy was forced to scrap many of its older battleships and battlecruisers. However up to 66,000 long tons (67,059 t) of existing ships could be converted into aircraft carriers, for which the Courageous-class ships' large hulls and high speeds made them ideal candidates. Glorious began her conversion at Rosyth in 1924, and was towed to Devonport where she was completed on 24 February 1930. During the ship's post-conversion sea trials, she reached 29.47 knots (54.58 km/h; 33.91 mph).[23] Her 15-inch turrets were placed into storage and later reused during the Second World War for Vanguard, the world's last battleship to be built.[24]
Her new design improved on her half-sister
Glorious received a
Glorious recommissioned on 24 February 1930 for service with the
Air group
Glorious could carry up to 48 aircraft; when first recommissioned, she carried
Second World War
Glorious served briefly with the Mediterranean Fleet for a time after the Second World War broke out. In October 1939, she moved through the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean where she became part of Force J which was organised to hunt for the Admiral Graf Spee in the Indian Ocean. It was not successful and Glorious remained in the Indian Ocean until December when she returned to the Mediterranean.[35]
Norwegian Campaign
She was recalled to the Home Fleet in April 1940 to provide air cover for British forces landing in
Glorious returned on 18 May with six Supermarine Walrus amphibious flying boats of 701 Squadron and 18 Hawker Hurricanes of No. 46 Squadron RAF. The latter aircraft had been loaded aboard by crane. The Walruses were quickly flown off to Harstad, but the airfield at Skånland was not yet ready for the Hurricanes and they were still aboard when Glorious returned to Scapa on 21 May. Glorious came back to the Narvik area on 26 May and the Hurricanes were quickly flown off.[37]
Even this success proved ephemeral and British forces were ordered to withdraw a few days later. The evacuation (Operation Alphabet) began in the north on the night of 3/4 June and Glorious arrived off the coast on 2 June to provide support, although she only carried nine Sea Gladiators of 802 and six Swordfish from 823 Squadrons for self-defence as it was hoped to evacuate the RAF fighters if at all possible. Ten Gladiators of 263 Squadron were flown aboard from their base at Bardufoss during the afternoon of 7 June and the Hurricanes of 46 Squadron were landed without significant problems in the early evening despite having a much higher landing speed than the biplanes. These had been flown off from land bases to keep them from being destroyed in the evacuation after the pilots discovered that a 7 kg (15 lb) sandbag carried in the rear of the Hurricane allowed full brakes to be applied immediately on landing.[38] This was the first time that high-performance monoplanes without tailhooks had landed on an aircraft carrier.[39]
Sinking
The commanding officer of Glorious, Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes, was a former submariner who had been executive officer of Courageous for 10 months.[40] He was granted permission to proceed independently to Scapa Flow in the early hours of 8 June to hold a court-martial of his Commander (Air), J. B. Heath, who had refused an order to carry out an attack on shore targets on the grounds that the targets were at best ill-defined and his aircraft were unsuited to the task. Heath had been left behind in Scapa to await trial.[39]
Unknown to the British, the German Navy had launched Operation Juno: the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and four destroyers were ordered to attack the British base at Harstadt and support the German advance towards Narvik. Whilst preparing to attack on 7 June, the German commander realized the British were evacuating Norway and instead of attacking Harstad, he choose to intercept the evacuation convoys on 8 June. During the morning of 8 June some ships were intercepted but no convoy was found. The German force then split up in two : Admiral Hipper and the four destroyers were sent to Trondheim for refuelling and ground support for the German force (the Gruppe Feuerstein) advancing to Narvik. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau continued to search for convoys in the Norwegian Sea. At 15:45 a lookout at the highest platform on Scharnhorst sighted a dust cloud, and then the mast of Glorious at a distance of 46 km. The German battleships gave chase immediately and at 16:10 the two escorting destroyers, Acasta and Ardent were detected as well.[41][Note 3]
The British spotted the German ships shortly after 16:00 and Ardent was dispatched to investigate. Glorious did not alter course or increase speed. Five Swordfish were ordered to the flight deck and
Scharnhorst switched her fire to Glorious at 16:32 and scored her first hit six minutes later on her third salvo, at a range of 26,000 yards (24,000 m), when one 28.3-centimetre (11.1 in) hit the forward flight deck and burst in the upper hangar, starting a large fire. This hit destroyed two Swordfish being prepared for flight and the hole in the flight deck prevented any other aircraft from taking off.[43] Splinters penetrated a boiler casing and caused a temporary drop in steam pressure. At 16:58 a second shell hit the homing beacon above the bridge and killed or wounded the captain and most of the personnel stationed there. Ardent's smokescreen became effective enough to impair the visibility of the Germans from about 16:58 to 17:20 so they ceased fire on Glorious.[42]
Glorious was hit again in the centre engine room at 17:20 and this caused her to lose speed and commence a slow circle to port. She also developed a
As the German ships approached Glorious, Acasta, which had been trying to maintain the smokescreen, broke through her own smoke and fired two volleys of torpedoes at Scharnhorst. One of these hit the battleship at 17:34 abreast her rear turret and badly damaged her. Acasta also managed one hit from her 4.7-inch guns on Scharnhorst, but was riddled by German gunfire and sank at around 18:20.[42]
Survivors estimated that about 900 men abandoned Glorious. The German ships had suffered extensive damage themselves, and unaware that Allied ships were not in contact with Glorious beat a hasty retreat, and did not try to pick up survivors.
The sinkings and the failure to mount an effective rescue were embarrassing for the Royal Navy. All ships encountering enemies had been ordered to broadcast a sighting report, and the lack of such a report from Glorious was questioned in the
The circumstances of the sinking were the subject of a debate in the House of Commons on 28 January 1999.[56] After the existence of the Bletchley Park decoding of German transmissions was made public in the 1970s, Bletchley Park personnel revealed that they had told the Royal Navy of the German breakout. However, the Royal Navy refused to believe the codebreakers partly because they were for the most part civilians, and despite begging from the codebreakers, never notified the Glorious squadron of the German advance.[57]
Memorials
The most prominent memorial for the lost crew of HMS Glorious, HMS Ardent and HMS Acasta is situated in Southsea Common, Portsmouth, overlooking the promenade and is accessible to the public at all times. There are 176 memorials from the 1,531 servicemen lost with HMS Glorious, HMS Ardent and HMS Acasta at the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.[citation needed]
For many years the only memorial to the seamen lost in the three ships was a stained-glass window in the church of St Peter Martindale in Cumbria, on the east side of Ullswater. A new memorial plaque dedicated to HMS Glorious and her escort destroyers Ardent and Acasta, was unveiled in St. Nicholas's Church, in HMS Drake, Devonport in 2002. On 8 June 2010, 70 years after the loss of Glorious, Acasta and Ardent, a memorial plaque inscribed in English and Norwegian was unveiled near the Trondenes Historical Centre in Harstad, Norway, the two destroyers' last port of call.[58] A memorial plaque is mounted on a stone plinth next to a memorial tree, in the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire. It can be found in the gardens in location 19-81. On 8 June 2019, a memorial plaque was unveiled in the Belvedere Gardens, Plymouth Hoe, dedicated to all crew members who lost their lives onboard HM Ships Glorious, Ardent and Acasta.
A model of HMS Glorious by model maker Norman A. Ough built for the Royal United Services Museum is now on display in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton.[59]
Notes
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 30 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
- ^ The times used in this section are in UTC, which is one hour behind CET, which is often used in German works.
- ^ All times used in this section are Greenwich Mean Time.
Footnotes
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 303
- ^ Roberts, pp. 50–51
- ^ Roberts, pp. 64–65
- ^ Roberts, pp. 71, 76, 79
- ^ a b c Burt 1986, p. 306
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 294
- ^ Roberts, p. 63
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 307
- ^ Burt 1986, pp. 309, 313
- ^ Roberts, p. 54
- ^ Parkes, p. 621
- ^ McBride, p. 109
- ^ a b Burt 1986, p. 314
- ^ Newbolt, pp. 150–151
- ^ Newbolt, pp. 156–157
- ^ Newbolt, pp. 164–165
- ^ McBride, pp. 110–112
- ^ McBride, p. 115
- ^ Campbell 1978, p. 66
- ^ Campbell 1978, p. 67
- ^ Admiralty (1918), ADM156/90: Board of Enquiry into sinking of HMS Campania, HMSO
- ^ Burt 1993, p. 315
- ^ Burt 1993, pp. 273, 284–285
- ^ Raven and Roberts, p. 321
- ^ Brown, p. 2
- ^ Friedman, pp. 103, 105–106
- ^ Burt 1993, pp. 274–278
- ^ Burt 1993, pp. 165, 278, 281
- ^ Hayward 1998, p. 47
- ^ Treasure Jones, pp. 57–62
- ^ Burt 1993, pp. 281, 285
- ^ Sturtivant, pp. 167, 169
- ^ Sturtivant, pp. 206, 208–209, 256–257
- ^ Sturtivant, pp. 266, 269–270
- ^ a b Burt 1993, p. 285
- ^ Haarr, pp. 141, 143–154
- ^ Haarr, pp. 261–262
- ^ Haarr, pp. 308–310
- ^ a b Howland, p. 61
- ^ Haar, p. 331
- ^ Bredemeier, pp. 64–69; Busch, pp. 181–183; Bekker, pp. 130–147
- ^ a b c d Howland, p. 52
- ^ Haar, p. 336
- ^ Howland, p. 51
- ^ Rohwer, p. 26
- ^ 73.Jump up ↑ Stuart Robertson, Stephen Dent: The War at Sea in Photographs. s. 23.
- ^ "HMS Glorious: History of a Controversy". History Today.
- ^ "HMS Glorious – The cover up of Churchill's Operation Paul". HMS Glorious – The cover up of Churchill’s Operation Paul.
- ^ "The Loss of HMS Glorious". Homepage.ntlworld.com. 8 June 1940. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ Winton, pp. 191–195
- ^ Winton, p. 200
- ^ "Casualty details: Morton, Donald Conrad". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ Winton, p. 209
- ^ Haarr, p. 347
- ^ "Analysis by Howland". Warship.org. Archived from the original on 22 May 2001. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ HMS Glorious. House of Commons Debate 28 January 1999 vol 324 cc564-76. Retrieved 10 September 2020
- ^ Michael Smith. Station X: the Codebreakers of Bletchley Park. Hull, England: Biteback Publishing, 2000.
- ISBN 978-82-998024-3-7, (in Norwegian)
- ^ "Norman Ough's HMS Glorious". finewaterline.com.
References
- Bekker, Cajus (1971). Verdammte See (in German). Oldenburg: Gerhard Stalling Verlag. ISBN 3-548-03057-2.
- Bredemeier, Heinrich (1997). Schlachtschiff Scharnhorst (in German) (5th ed.). Hamburg: Koehler. ISBN 3-7822-0592-8.
- Bowdler, John M. (2002). "Re: HMS Glorious Collision, 1931". Warship International. XXXIX (4): 318–319. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 0-668-04164-1.
- Burt, R. A. (1993). British Battleships, 1919–1939. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 1-85409-068-2.
- Burt, R. A. (1986). British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-863-8.
- Busch, Fritz-Otto (1980). Het drama van de Scharnhorst (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Omega Boek B.V. ISBN 90-6057-197-5.
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1978). Battle Cruisers: The Design and Development of British and German Battlecruisers of the First World War Era. Warship Special. Vol. 1. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-130-0.
- ISBN 0-87021-054-8.
- Haarr, Geirr H. (2010). The Battle for Norway: April–June 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-051-1.
- Hayward, Roger (1998). The Fleet Air Arm in Camera. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1979-5.
- Horan, Mark E. (2001). "Re: The Loss of HMS Glorious". Warship International. XXXVIII (2): 117–120. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Howland, Vernon W. (1994). "The Loss of HMS Glorious: An Analysis of the Action". Warship International. XXXI (1): 47–62. ISSN 0043-0374.
- McBride, Keith (1990). "The Weird Sisters". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Warship. Vol. 1990. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 93–101. ISBN 1-55750-903-4.
- ISBN 0-89839-255-1.
- ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
- Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1976). British Battleships of World War Two: The Development and Technical History of the Royal Navy's Battleship and Battlecruisers from 1911 to 1946. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-817-4.
- Roberts, John (1997). Battlecruisers. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-068-1.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Stone, Randy (2008). "Re: Loss of HMS Glorious". Warship International. XLV (4): 263–264. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Sullivan, David M. & Sturton, Ian (2010). "Extraordinary Views of HMS Glorious and HMS Ark Royal". Warship International. XLVII (3): 257–262. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 0-85130-120-7.
- ISBN 978-0-7524-4625-7.
- Winton, John (1999). Carrier Glorious. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35244-6.
External links
- Photo gallery of Courageous and Glorious
- "Glarac Association website remembering those lost with HMS Glorious" – with complete CWGC casualty list.
- HMS Glorious and the Fate of No. 46 Squadron, focusing more on the squadron than the ship Archived 6 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- Maritimequest HMS Glorious photo gallery
- "The Tragedy of HMS Glorious" – index of original materials related to the Channel 4 documentary, no actual documents. Held at Churchill Archives Centre
- Papers about HMS Glorious, 1938 - 1998 held at Churchill Archives Centre
- Homepage of The Glorious, Ardent & Acasta Association
- Operation "Juno" Retrieved via the Wayback Machine 8 June 2021
- Review of Carrier Glorious: The life and death of an aircraft carrier by John Winton
- Data on as-fitted design and equipment
- IWM Interview with survivor Kenneth Cross
- IWM Interview with survivor James O'Neill
- IWM Interview with survivor Frederick Cooke
- IWM Interview with survivor Vernon Day
- IWM Interview with survivor Frederick Thornton
- IWM Interview with survivor William Smith