HMS Glorious [Archive] - World Naval Ships Forums

stewart mcloughlin

05-12-2007, 22:29

You'll find the ships service history at:-

http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-04CV-Glorious.htm

A casualty list at:-

http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1940-06JUN1.htm

Don't know location of a survivors list.

Major ship losses at:-

http://www.naval-history.net/WW2aBritishLosses02CV.htm

Day-by-Day events - 8th June, 1940, at:-

http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4006-19JUN02.htm

Various photos of Glorious at:-

http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum/Old%20Ship%20Picture%20Gallery%20D-J/Old%20Ships%20G/index3.html

Various other information available on www.glorious

Hope this helps.

Stewart McLoughlin

hayesD

06-12-2007, 16:09

Hi Stewart,

Thanks for a comprehensive reply. The information is helpful. I did a search yesterday on the internet and this is what I came up with.

This is the best one I think. The site is dedicated to the memory of the crew of the Glorious. It has a casualty list and lists the names of the parents of the men where known and where they were from.

http://www.glarac.com/index.html

Here are some biographical details of two of the 46 pilots to survive. They were picked up by a Norwegian trawler (SS Borgund) and brought to the Faroe Islands. Around 35 men were picked up from what I have read.

http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Cross.htm

Here is an account of the sea battle that day.

http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/scharnhorst/history/scharnjuno.html

There are some photos of the ship and crew members here. (HMS Glorious is in the 'ROYAL NAVY' section and 'COURAGEOUS' Class.

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_glorious.htm

The links at the bottom of the Wikipedia link here are useful also.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Glorious

There is some more information here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/43/a4033243.shtml

Thanks again,

Diarmuid.

stewart mcloughlin

06-12-2007, 23:47

Well that lot should keep you busy for a while.
Happy researching.
You'll be able to write a book on it, or even a short story for the local newspaper. They're always interested for a local history connection, particularly if there is an anniversary involved. 2010 by the time you put it all together maybe.

Stewart

Stan.J

01-01-2008, 14:50

http://memorial
This is a Memorial at St.Christophers Church, Howtown, Ullswater.the Lake District. Worth seeing.I believe it is the only Memorial in the U.K. To the Glorious.

Batstiger

01-01-2008, 20:01

Batstiger

01-01-2008, 23:16

Norway Campaign 1940.

German Battleship Scharnhorst firing her forward 283mm guns, during the engagement with the British aircraft carrier Glorious and her escorts 8th June 1940.

Photographed from the battleship Gneisenau.

Ian Jenkins

08-07-2008, 09:12

Hello, all. My Dad, Bill Jenkins, served on HMS Glorious in the Med from 1937-1939. I have some photos from then, mainly of Glorious, but also of the Wishart, Hood, Somersetshire, etc. as well as many of the planes on board and at Dekheilia. I can share them with others. Dad was transferred to St Athan in '39, and survived the war, and died in 1978. I would like to see others' pictures of this great ship from the period.

John Brown

08-07-2008, 12:17

Hi Ian

Welcome to the forum

I'm sure we would all be very pleased to see your photos. I would be particularly interested in seeing pictures of HMT Somersetshire as I believe this is the ship that took my mother and her family to India in 1930.

regards....John

astraltrader

08-07-2008, 12:54

Hi Ian welcome to the forum. As John has already indicated we would all love to see your pictures. It is an easy thing to do to post pictures on the forum. If you need any help in doing this just say so here and I will send a PM [private message] with instructions. One important thing to bear in mind is to always use Jpeg rather than Bitmap!

hucks216

17-06-2009, 14:40

I have just bought a photo album that used to belong to a crew member of Scharnhorst and it has a few photos of the British force being attacked. I am still waiting for the album to arrive but these are the sample pictures I was sent of the attack. I think it is fair to say that these photos definitely belong in the Historic (and possibly for this action, unique) category.
When the album arrives I will scan the highlights and post them in the Photo section.
(Apologies for the small size of the pics - I will post larger versions when I have the album in hand.)

astraltrader

17-06-2009, 21:51

Looks interesting Hucks. Feel free to start a new picture gallery especially for your pictures.

Rorqual

17-06-2009, 23:58

A few pics of the Glorious.

I read the book about her years ago and if it wasn't for her Captain wanting to get back in such a hurry to Court Martial his Commander Air she might have missed the action altogether. Apparently he (the Captain ) flipped his lid!

There's a book about the Glorious published some time ago and tells of the story of Glorious and the debacle of her sinking. She had loaded up with the
aircraft that were being evacuated from the Norway campaign 1940. Her aircraft were all secured and she wasn't doing CAP flying either. Although in
defence I suppose the excuse for not flying was that the pilots onboard were mostly RAF !!

The survivors were left in the water due to no signals being recieved -lots of
casualties -not a very nice story anyway.

C'est la Guerre

Fred

qprdave

15-03-2010, 01:12

Report and Court Hearing of the Collision between HMS Glorious and the French Liner, Florida. Off Gibraltar on 2nd April 1931

This is a follow up to a photo of Glorious arriving at Gibraltar posted by Tony Hurn
http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?p=105454#post105454
Post #2

Part One. Report of the Collision

qprdave

15-03-2010, 01:15

Part Two Court Hearing and Appeal

Published in The Times

Francis Stanley

15-03-2010, 09:06

Post this event here is a little snippett of life onboard the Glorious from my Dads memories.

1933 In January I joined HMS Glorious, an aircraft carrier.
Onboard the Glorious my Gunnery station was Layer of 4.7 Q.F. A.A guns. The aircraft aboard were the Fairey 3F and Nimrods. The Glorious seemed a huge ship after Destroyers. We sailed for the Mediterranean again but it wasn’t a long commission, about eighteen months. During one of the cruises we had a real fierce storm, waves smashed in the lower flight deck, burst open the upper hanger doors and destroyed about thirty planes. For three days we had no hot food and no smoking because of petrol fumes from the ruined planes.

astraltrader

15-03-2010, 16:27

Interesting information Dave. VMT for posting.

spruso

11-06-2010, 09:11

Found this photo said to be the last taken before HMS Glorious was lost. Not the best photo but probably of some historic interest. Never seen one of her in camouflage before.

Cheers
Bruce

David Verghese

11-06-2010, 14:26

This is an interesting picture Bruce, thanks for finding and posting it.

I think it also shows perhaps the last photo of HMS Diana who escorted HMS Glorious into Norwegian waters. A few weeks later the former was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed HMCS Margaree. She, and many of her crew ,were lost in a collision in October 1940.

Could I download and keep a copy?

Can anyone identify what we are looking at in the forefront of the picture. The perspective looks a bit strange.

David

clevewyn

11-06-2010, 14:40

Flight deck of another carrier?

MelQuick

11-06-2010, 14:43

Bruce

I'd also like to download your pic if that's all right.

Mel

RNfanDan

11-06-2010, 15:23

This is a suspicious photo which appeared fairly recently on the 'net. I have very serious doubts as to its authenticity. I do not care to speculate further, but this is certainly not the first time a warship photo has been contrived and/or altered. The Internet is not the normal "birthplace" of

One website I used to respect, chose to display this PhotoShopped image of HMS Hood, which was tabbed as "Hood's last moments" or some similar hype. The photo was altered to make it appear wrinkled, torn and aged, in order to enhance its apparent "authenticity". The battlecruiser is shown amidst tall columns of splashes and the idea conveyed was that these were from Bismarck's shells.

To the unknowing, it might appear to be authentic; in fact, the photo was taken during the 1940 bombardment of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, from an accompanying ship off Hood's port beam. Curiously, no attempt was made to point the ship in the "right" direction (for the Denmark Strait battle) by simply reversing the image, but even if this is overlooked, the photo shows part of yet a third British man o'war jutting into the frame (who was the photographer...Poseidon?)!

I have a hard time accepting as authentic, any truly rare photo that is "born" on the Internet, without some accompanying contextual information or, better yet a known and credible source.

tjstoneman

11-06-2010, 16:24

I agree with RNFanDan that the photo in post #1 looks a little suspicious - for example, the background seems to have been cropped just above the aircraft on the after end of GLORIOUS' flight deck (which are indistinct, but may be a Hurricane (furthest aft and either (Sea) Gladiators or Swordfish). That said, the foreground is definitely the flight deck of a carrier.

GLORIOUS was definitely camouflaged as shown; there are other photos in existence taken (probably illicitly) from HMS HIGHLANDER as GLORIOUS was launching Hurricanes to fly to Bardufoss on 26 May 1940; they are fairly clear, and match the scheme shown in post #1. Two such photos appear in Norman Friedman British Carrier Aviation (Conway Maritime Press, 1988).

There are already two threads here for HMS GLORIOUS: http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2040 and http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=343&highlight=hms+glorious

Tim

astraltrader

11-06-2010, 18:03

Thanks Tim you beat me to it!

I have merged this thread with the second of the two you mentioned.

Dick

11-06-2010, 18:08

Bruce,

Thank you for posting this interesting picture.

If genuine, then perhaps taken 14th -18th May 1940 when Glorious, Diana, Furious and then Ark Royal were together during the Norwegian Campaign.

But anyhow I dont think it would be the last (British) picture of Glorious. Isnt there one showing her having landed-on the Hurricanes and just about the set off on her ill-fated final crossing?

David Verghese

11-06-2010, 18:21

Gentlemen

The picture appears on the Wikipedia sites for HMS Glorious ie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Glorious_last_picture.jpg

and also on the 804 NAS Squadron Wk site.

The "author" is credited as ' US Naval Historical Photograph #NH 60793.

tjstoneman

11-06-2010, 20:02

Dick - reference your post #25:

There's another photo of GLORIOUS in camouflage at http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/scharnhorst/history/scharnjuno_glorious.html. It is undated, so could have been after the RAF aircraft had been recovered on 7/8 June.

However, I don't believe the only other photos I've seen, in the book I referenced earlier, were taken after this recovery (although Friedman's captions say they were). They are captioned 'The last photographs of HMS Glorious, taken on 7 June 1940, the day before she was sunk, with Hurricanes on board. These photographs were taken by Mr Frank Clements of the Naval Canteen Service, HMS Highlander.' The three photos are credited to the Fleet Air Arm Museum. However, I believe they are actually photos showing the disembarkation of 46 Squadron to Skaanland/Bardufoss on 26 May - there are Hurricanes ranged aft ready to launch in two of the pictures, one shows a Hurricane just airborne, with a Swordfish navigational guide ready to follow in another. Also there appear to be at least 4 Hurricanes ranged in GLORIOUS - it seems there were only 3 on board on 7 June (the rest landed the following day). The fighters would not have been lined up aft if others were about to recover - standard practice prewar and in the early part of the war was to strike each aircraft below to a hangar before the next one recovered - Fleet Air Arm deck crews could do this pretty rapidly!

There's also a Pathe Newsreel (with Norwegian(?) commentary) including a very short clip showing GLORIOUS in camouflage launching (Sea?) Gladiators. It's 3 minutes into film 620.14 at http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=50871.

If there's another photo taken after the embarkation I'd be interested to see it.
Tim

spruso

11-06-2010, 20:37

Bruce

I'd also like to download your pic if that's all right.

Mel

Go ahead Mel

MelQuick

11-06-2010, 20:40

Spruso

Ta muchly.

Mel

Dick

11-06-2010, 21:17

Tim,

Re your #27, yes those are the pictures I'm thinking about and on reflection I'm sure you are right.

Best wishes.

emason

12-11-2010, 17:52

I believe this is one of the last photographs of HMS Glorious taken the day before she was sunk.

88433

tjstoneman

12-11-2010, 18:45

The photo in post #34 is one of those I referred to in post #30. To recap, "....there appear to be at least 4 Hurricanes ranged in GLORIOUS - it seems there were only 3 on board on 7 June (the rest landed the following day). The fighters would not have been lined up aft if others were about to recover - standard practice prewar and in the early part of the war was to strike each aircraft below to a hangar before the next one recovered - Fleet Air Arm deck crews could do this pretty rapidly!" Also, the airscrews of the Hurricanes are blurred as if the engines are running; unlikely if they had just landed. I've seen no references to Hurricanes ranged on GLORIOUS' flight deck after they had been recovered from Norway.
I still believe, as stated earlier, that this photo is one showing the disembarkation of 46 Squadron to Skaanland/Bardufoss on 26 May, rather than on 7 June as suggested.
Tim

emason

12-11-2010, 19:15

Tim, I was only going by the caption to the photograph, which reads "This is Glorious during the withdrawal from Norway with recently landed RAF Hurricanes on her flight deck, The next day she was sunk."

tjstoneman

12-11-2010, 19:36

Bill,
Even respected authors sometimes miscaption photos - easily done!
Tim

culverin

12-11-2010, 19:45

Hi Bill, your #34
Would be fascinating to know which ship your picture was taken from, as she is pretty up close here almost as if on plane guard duties, a typical destroyer chore and not without it's hazards.
Wonder if it could have been Acasta or Ardent. Doubt it though. Nice thought.

tjstoneman

12-11-2010, 20:05

Culverin - see my post #34 - Friedman says it was HMS HIGHLANDER - although note my post about captions!:)
Tim

culverin

12-11-2010, 20:12

Hello Tim, yes i did see your earlier #, there seems some doubt which is why i needed to insert Acasta and Ardent as these two valiant little ships are so frequently overlooked in the forthcoming fiasco, and cover up.

emason

12-11-2010, 20:14

GaryH

13-11-2010, 11:08

Thank You - great close up of the giant

Dick

14-11-2010, 08:58

Thank you Bill. No doubt now. Given the detail of the pattern of the deck in the foreground of the full photo, it was not taken from an A class destroyer. The pattern (and netting) do however match Highlander.

mstary1

14-11-2010, 09:31

Found this photo said to be the last taken before HMS Glorious was lost. Not the best photo but probably of some historic interest. Never seen one of her in camouflage before.

Cheers
Bruce

looking at the picture using a virtual magnifier, you can see the sea areas of the photo are heavily pixelated behind the destroyer while it is sharp infront. The bow wave from Glorious is not consistent and there is an unusual line infront of the bow of the Glorious. No expert but this photo is suspect at best.

If anybody needs an free online magnifier.
http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/

This is brilliant for zooming in on pics. :)

emason

14-11-2010, 16:45

Bill,
Even respected authors sometimes miscaption photos - easily done!
Tim

I have to agree with you now. I have been doing a little research, and it appears that when the Hurricanes were landed they were "struck down into the hanger", a term I have not heard before.

culverin

14-11-2010, 16:54

I think we have all been here before where unfortunately not all is as it appears.
There is little to say other than the traditional, but let it all be a salutary lesson whether fact or fiction as to the pitfalls which await the unwary.
That is all of us. Amen.

GaryH

14-11-2010, 22:06

I have been doing a little research, and it appears that when the Hurricanes were landed they were "struck down into the hanger", a term I have not heard before.

Thats why Glorious was chosen for the task.
Ark Royal may have had a longer flight deck but her deck lifts werent wide enough to "strike down" the Hurricanes whose wings were NOT foldable at that time

Birgir Thorisson

11-02-2011, 17:31

Gentlemen;

The doubts expressed about the authenticity of the picture posted in post # 21 are not founded on a sure footing. The picture was published (to my knowledge) first in Till´s "Air Power and the Royal Navy", back in 1979, before the time of Photoshop. It is credited to a Captain G. A. French, and is captioned as taken from HMS Furious, three weeks before the Glorious was lost.

Regards,

Birgir Thorisson