At this time of year when we remember those who gave their lives in service of their country, here we focus on just one past example of the many thousands of sacrifices made by the members of the Royal Navy.
Courage
In April 1940 HMS Glowworm was part of the escort for the battlecruiser HMS Renown covering a minelaying operation in Norwegian waters. A man was washed overboard in heavy seas and Gloworm lost touch with the main force when detached to look for him. In worsening weather, she reduced speed and her gyro-compass failed, forcing her to rely on the unreliable magnetic compass for navigation. At dawn on April 8, she encountered two German destroyers engaging them but the ship was rolling severely and several of the crew were injured. The Germans broke off the action but Glowworm decided to follow, aware they would likely be part of a larger force which they hoped to shadow, in order to report their movements.
Not long after, the Admiral Hipper was sighted. The cruiser heavily outgunned her opponent, armed with eight 8 inch and twelve 4.1inch guns compared with the destroyer’s four 4.7 inch guns. Weather conditions made both shadowing or escape virtually impossible and the captain, 35-year old Lt Cdr Gerard Roope, decided it was their duty to inflict as much damage as possible on the cruiser before inevitably being sunk. Glowworm made smoke but this made little difference as Hipper was equipped with an early gun-direction radar system. Gloworm was hit by at least one 8 inch shell before she was close enough for the cruiser to open fire with her secondary armament.
Glowworm fired a salvo of torpedoes but all missed as Hipper combed their tracks. While attempting to withdraw to reload torpedoes, Hipper closed to close range so Roope gave the order to ram. The destroyer struck the cruiser just abaft the anchor, breaking off Glowworm’s bow but scraping down Hippers’s starboard side, tearing off a 40-meter section of the armoured belt and a set of torpedo tubes. Minor flooding also caused a four-degree list but Hipper was eventually able to resume her mission in Norway.
The battle took place in heavy seas, a cacophony of explosions, grinding metal, smoke and fire. For the men of Glowworm in must have been truly terrifying. As the ship drew away, she fired a final salvo at Hipper but was hit again and as the ship heeled over, the captain gave the order to abandon ship, ordering as much timber and other floating material over the side as possible. There were very few uninjured men left, all that could be done was to put lifebelts on the wounded that made it to the upper deck in the hope that they would float. The Glowworm eventually capsized and sank after floating bottom-up for a few moments.
Humanity
Admiral Hipper hove to in order to rescue a sailor swept overboard during the action as well as Glowworm’s survivors. Of her complement of 148, only were 38 rescued by the Hipper, 7 died of wounds and the rest became prisoners of war. Lt Cdr Gerard Roope survived the action but drowned before he could be rescued. The German crew were astonished by such bravery and the cruiser’s captain, Hellmuth Heye, wrote to the British authorities via the Red Cross, recommending Roope be given the Victoria Cross. This was subsequently posthumously awarded after the war when the full story became public.
Spirit
Nelson famously said, “No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy”. The sacrificial action of Glowworm’s crew showed this fighting spirit to be undiminished and was key to ultimate victory. The courage of the Glowworm was echoed just a few months later when two destroyers, HMS Ardent and Acasta went down while confronting the German battleship Scharnhorst at close range. The destruction of these small destroyers was very much a case of temporary local superiority. By the end of the war and at enormous cost in lives, the Royal Navy had despatched Hitler’s fleet to the bottom of the ocean with its remnants pounded in their harbours by the RAF.
The effects of the pandemic have significantly curtailed public remembrance events and the opportunity for poppy sales in support of the Royal British Legion. If you can’t give cash to the Poppy Appeal collectors as you might normally have done, then donations can be made to the RBL here or the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity here.
Main image: by kind permission of Spacepickshovel
Hero’s all. We need to remember them every year. Next slot is not far away.
God bless our armed forces who willingly put their lives on the line to protect our people and enable us to live in freedom and make of life as we can.
One of Ardent or Acasta (Acasta?) scored a torpedo hit on Scharnhorst causing a fair bit of damage.
The Armed Merchant Cruisers Rawalpindi and Jervis Bay are two other examples of terrific heroism in the face of overwhelming odds.
So too the trawler HMT Juniper who faced up to the Hipper (with only a 12lb gun!) and was lost the same day as Ardent and Acaster.
Exeter, Encounter and USS Pope in the Java Sea 1942.
Indeed. I could also mention, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. Along with so many others. We should all remember those that paid the ultimate price whilst Unarmed and Defenceless too. The Merchant Navy.
Agreed, HMS Folyebank or my great uncles resting place, HMS Loyality. Bless them all.
Another small boat action which is often overlooked which had a VC awarded for Temp Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson of HMS Li Wo , a former Yangtze river steamer around 700 tons, who single handedly attacked an escorted Japanese troop convoy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Li_Wo
Bigger Main Gun than a Type 31.
Quieter acoustic signature too probably.
A triple expansion steam engine against a modern acoustic propellers and machinery on rubber mounted sub frames?
Im stunned this is the level of trashy comment on this sort of post, considering its about the overwhelming bravery shown against incredible odds.
I am stunned you are taking gentle throwaway comments so seriously.
You are arrogant person with no social graces or awareness.
Its the fire control system that matters. No comparison between radar controlled and automated guns with that era manual controls and on mount gun sights.
A 57 mm gun on the T31 can fire 100 rounds in 30 sec. More likely to use air bursts of 4 to 5 rounds on each of say 15 small high speed boat targets
It wasn’t a serious comment.
I was merely comparing Gun Sizes on the 700 ton converted ferry compared with the 6500 ton Type 31, 80 years on.
I think he was more keen to play Top Trumps than anything else. And shout ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ on a thread that should have been nice and quiet.
Really this site would benefit from comments being switched off.
Can’t see any reason whatsoever for getting uptight.
Me or him?
Duker …….. It just seemed a bit out of kilter.
Down Voters back !
I don’t get it either. Too many nutters here.
lead the way senor X
The gun on a T31 can’t fire anything because none have been built yet. On that basis the converted steamer wins. 🙂
Oh The Nonsequiter Brigade, Twit battalion has arrived
Imagine knowing your about to sink your ships deliberately in those water….
Some of the crew were survivors from Repulse and POW too.
When you go down to the bottom of a ship and put your hand on a hull plate and feel the cold and you realise there isn’t much between you and a lot of water and then is a long climb back to fresh air……….
Lt Cdr Roope remains the only recipient of the VC to be awarded on the basis of the request of the enemy at the time. Ardent and Acasta were honoured on board Scharnhorst with two mess decks being named after them.
Michael, Where did you get that bit of information from? As I would like to follow it up, cheers.
Mr Putin’s standing was increasing in young Latvians identifying as Russians back from 2014 – 2018.
May 9th was coming round and I asked what they were celebrating; they said the Russian/Soviet soldiers who defeated Hitler and brought Freedom to Latvia (sic) and the rest of Europe.
Will you remember the allied soldiers from the West who gave their lives for your freedoms, to supply food to your grandparents? Arms, ammunition, tanks, planes et al supplied to your soldiers?
Collective no.
Oh, that’s OK – here’s a clip about the arctic convoys and one ship in particular…
They were a bit shocked, no one in the school, in their homes had ever shown them the sacrifice made by combined allied navies to supply the Soviets; and I still have friends from those students although a few dismissed it as fake news.
I wonder if they also celebrated Uncle Jo’s purging of military commanders leading up to the war, the Soviet German non-aggression pact, Soviet annexation of eastern Poland and the purges of Poles in the Soviet zone, the refusal of Stalin to listen to warnings of the imminent German invasion and the incompetent strategic management of Soviet forces in the early weeks after they entered the war resulting in the loss of whole armies which were encircled.
The part of eastern Poland was mostly beyond the Curzon line territory awarded Poland in Versailles treaty of 1919
It was taken by conquest by Poland during the Russian Polish wars of the 1919-21 under the Treaty of Riga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curzon_Line
Poland also took some territory after the Munich agreement which led to dismemberment of Czechoslovakia