HMS Glowworm (H92)

Coordinates: 64°27′N 6°28′E / 64.450°N 6.467°E / 64.450; 6.467
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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Glowworm.

Broadside view of Glowworm
History
United Kingdom
NameGlowworm
Ordered5 March 1934
Builder
Woolston, Hampshire
Laid down15 August 1934
Launched22 July 1935
Commissioned22 January 1936
IdentificationPennant number: H92
MottoEx tenebris lux : 'Out of darkness light'.
FateSunk by the German cruiser Admiral Hipper, 8 April 1940
BadgeOn a Field Blue, a lantern Black with rays issuing Silver
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeG-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 1,350
    standard
    )
  • 1,883 long tons (1,913 t) (
    deep load
    )
Length323 ft (98.5 m)
Beam33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught12 ft 5 in (3.8 m)
Installed power
  • 3
    Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • 34,000 
    kW
    )
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 geared steam turbines
Speed36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range5,530 nmi (10,240 km; 6,360 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement137 (peacetime), 146 (wartime)
Armament

HMS Glowworm was a

bow
, and she sank shortly afterwards. The commander of Glowworm was awarded the VC (Victoria Cross) at the recommendation of the commander of Hipper. There were only two other occasions when a VC was awarded at the recommendation of the enemy in the Second World War.

Description

Glowworm displaced 1,350

kW) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. Glowworm carried a maximum of 470 long tons (480 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5,530 nautical miles (10,240 km; 6,360 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The ship's complement was 137 officers and men in peacetime.[1]

The ship mounted four 45-

21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes. One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.[2]

Operational history

Early career

Badge of HMS Glow-worm

Glowworm was ordered from the yards of

Munich Crisis in September 1938. She then escorted the light cruiser Arethusa on her voyage to Aden later that month.[5] During night exercises on 16 May 1939, Glowworm collided with her sister, Grenade, and was forced to put into Alexandria for temporary repairs. She received permanent repairs in Malta between 23 May and 24 June.[6]

Glowworm was in Alexandria when World War II began in September 1939. In October the flotilla was transferred to the

Western Approaches Command and Glowworm sailed for the UK on 19 October with her sisters Gallant, Grafton, and Greyhound. They arrived at Plymouth on 22 October and were deployed in the South Western Approaches. Glowworm carried out convoy escort duties and anti-submarine patrols until 12 November when she was transferred to the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla, based at Harwich, for North Sea patrol and escort duties. On 22 February 1940 she was hit by the Swedish ship Rex in fog whilst at anchor off Outer Dowsing. Glowworm suffered significant structural damage and was under repair at a commercial dockyard in Hull until late March. On completion of the repairs, she was transferred back to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet, rejoining the flotilla at its base at Scapa Flow on 20 March.[7]

On 5 April Glowworm was part of the escort of the battlecruiser Renown, along with her sisters Greyhound, Hero, and Hyperion. The ships covered the minelaying operation in Norwegian waters, Operation Wilfred. On 7 April, Glowworm was detached from the task force to search for a man lost overboard.[8]

Final battle

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Location of the final battle

On the morning of 8 April 1940 Glowworm was on her way to rejoin Renown when she encountered the German destroyers Z11 Bernd von Arnim and Z18 Hans Lüdemann in the heavy fog before 8:00 a.m. The destroyers were part of a German naval detachment, led by the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, on its way to land troops at Trondheim as part of the German invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung). Glowworm opened fire and the German destroyers attempted to disengage, signalling for help. The request was soon answered by Admiral Hipper who spotted Glowworm at 09:50. Hipper initially had difficulty in distinguishing Glowworm from von Arnim, but opened fire eight minutes later at a range of 8,400 metres (9,200 yd) with her 20.3-centimetre (8.0 in) main guns. Glowworm was hit by Hipper's fourth salvo and she started making smoke. She turned into her smoke in an attempt to break visual contact with Hipper, but the cruiser's radar-directed guns were not affected by the smoke. When the destroyer emerged from her smoke the range was now short enough that the cruiser's 10.5-centimetre (4.1 in) guns could fire. Glowworm's radio room, bridge, and forward 4.7-inch gun were all destroyed, and she received additional hits in the engine room, the captain's day cabin, and finally the mast. As this crashed down, it caused a short circuit of the wiring, causing the ship's siren to start a banshee wail.

Glowworm on fire

At 10:10,

Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope fired five torpedoes from one mounting at a range of 800 metres (870 yd). Still, all missed because Captain Hellmuth Heye had kept Hipper's bow pointed at Glowworm throughout the battle to minimize his risk from torpedoes. The destroyer fell back through her smokescreen to buy time to get her second torpedo mount working, but Heye followed Glowworm through the smoke to finish her off before she could fire the rest of her torpedoes. The two ships were very close when Hipper emerged from the smoke and Roope ordered a hard turn to starboard to ram the cruiser. Hipper was slow to answer her helm and Glowworm struck the cruiser just abaft the anchor. The collision broke off Glowworm's bow and the rest of the ship scraped along Hipper's side, gouging open several holes in the latter's hull and destroying her forward starboard torpedo mounting. One German sailor was knocked overboard by the collision. Hipper took on some 500 tonnes (490 long tons) of water before the leaks could be isolated, but was not seriously damaged. Glowworm was on fire when she drifted clear and her boilers exploded at 10:24, taking 109 of her crew with her.[9]

Admiral Hipper hove to in order to rescue her man overboard and Glowworm's survivors. The German sailor was not found, but 40 British sailors were recovered, although at least six later died of their wounds. The senior surviving officer, Lieutenant Ramsay, told his rescuers that neither the helm nor the emergency steering was manned when the ships collided. German accounts only mention four torpedoes fired by Glowworm, but British accounts say all ten were fired. This was confirmed by photographic evidence taken after the collision showing all of her torpedo tubes empty.[10]

Roope, who drowned when he could no longer hang on to a rope whilst being pulled up the side of the cruiser, was posthumously awarded the

Red Cross, stating the dauntless courage Roope had shown when engaging a much superior ship in a close quarters battle. Ramsay was also awarded the DSO. Both awards were made after the end of the war.[11][12]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Whitley, pp. 107–08
  2. ^ English, p. 141
  3. ^ English, pp. 89–90
  4. ^ "The King's Holiday". The Scotsman. No. 29077. Edinburgh. 6 August 1936. p. 8. Retrieved 21 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ English, p. 95
  6. ^ English, p. 96
  7. ^ English, pp. 96–97
  8. ^ Haarr, pp. 65–66
  9. ^ Haar, pp. 91–95
  10. ^ Haar, pp. 94–95, 431
  11. ^ a b Haarr, p. 96
  12. ^ London Gazette

References

External links

64°27′N 6°28′E / 64.450°N 6.467°E / 64.450; 6.467

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