2 Destroyers Try to Protect a Carrier - HMS Glorious Documentary
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On the afternoon of June 8th 1940, the British Aircraft Carrier HMS Glorious was steaming west across the Norwegian sea, having evacuated aircraft from northern Norway. Suddenly, the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau appeared on the horizon and opened fire. As Glorious turned away and tried to scramble aircraft, it fell to Acasta and Ardent to mount a desperate battle against overwhelming odds.
0:00 - Intro
0:44 - Norway 1940
3:10 - Taken by Surprise
5:38 - The Onslaught Begins
8:25 - Glorious Crippled
11:06 - The Last Stand of HMS Acasta
Credits:
Artwork by:
/ chrisbyflanker
Lead animation by CKD Productions
Written, Supporting Animation, Directed and Produced by:
/ addaway23
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Sources:
John Winton, Carrier Glorious (Cassell: 1986)
Howland, V. W. (1994). The Loss of HMS Glorious: An Analysis of the Action. Warship International, 31(1), 47-62. www.jstor.org/stable/44891558
Stephen Roskill, Churchill and the Admirals (Pen and Sword, 1977)
Corelli Barnett, Engage The Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War (Penguin, 1991)
Henrik Lunde, Hitler’s Preemptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940. (kindle edition)
Earl Ziemke, German Northern Theater of Operations 1940-1945. (kindle edition)
Full Casualty List for HMS Glorious can be found here: www.naval-history.net/xDKCas19...
Music Credits:
"Rynos Theme" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"Crypto" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"Stay the Course" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Other music and SFX from Epidemic Sound
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Betterhelp is incredibly shady, why are you taking a sponsorship from them in 2024? This is not some obscure thing
God awful choice of sponsor, really disappointing to see you stoop this low
@@_ShaugenI can excuse KZheadrs hawking shitty products if it's something unimportant, but mental health care is insulting
Weird to see Betterhelp ads showing up again considering the huge fiasco a few years ago.
Try looking at the battle off samar. It's a literal david-vs-goliath battle, where a few escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts fought against the full Japanese fleet off Samar, 1944 and won.
WW2 destroyers see a ship 10x their size and are all like "Cowabunga it is."
Uss Johnston goes brrrr
@@nonbigbrain9662On god
Basically turn into the shipmaster Elite from Halo3. "Then it is an even fight"
@@nonbigbrain9662 the battle off Samar wasn’t David vs Goliath, it was David vs Godzilla And yet Johnston and Sammy B didn’t care for such meager things as odds.
Destroyer officers and crews were a whole different breed
these stories of destroyer crews putting up one heck of a fight against battleships are truly humbling and inspiring. The death toll on of these naval engagements on the other hand are absolutely terrifying. And the fact that neither of these crews received any recognition for this is a real shame
I agree 100%. Fear the man when he has nothing to lose. The captin knew he was going down. The fact he almost took down one of those goliaths was incredible. Shame it hasn't been recognised yet. I'm sure videos such as this may help to rectify this if at all possible
No recognition, because the government didn't want to draw attention to the fact that Glorious was sunk while defended by just two destroyers, just like its sister Courageous the previous year. They lost Courageous to a U-boat which was ironic because Courageous had been set to hunting U-boats, and they had almost lost Ark Royal three days earlier which had the same mission and 3 destroyers escorting it but fortunately, that U-boat attack failed. The U-boat was sunk. The first U-boat sunk. The U-boat attacks convinced the Admiralty not to use fleet carriers as U-boat hunters but it didn't teach them to adequately protect them.
All due to one incompetent Captain.
@@jimmiller5600 In Das Boot set in late 1941 there's a scene where the Kaleun (Der Alte) bitterly notes that the British have stopped making mistakes. And now that the enemy is acting competently, the war is turning brutally against the German submariners, especially as the leading Nazis care little about naval warfare and are focused almost entirely on the Eastern Front. And it is very telling that the German triumphs at sea had more to do with British arrogance and incompetence than German skill. Courageous and Glorious both sunk due to completely inadequate escorts, Royal Oak sunk at Scapa Flow in the very heart of the Royal Navy, Ark Royal sunk by a single torpedo due to severe design flaws, Barham sunk after the U-boat was actually detected but the detection was dismissed, HMS Audacity was sunk while operating outside the convoy it was meant to protect despite specific Admiralty orders not to do so...
@@Jabarri74 He could have struck his colours and surrendered. Saving himself and the crew. He did not. And the crew followed orders.
The Royal Navy has never acknowledge the courage of their two destroyers. But the German veterans after the war were full of praises for the way Acasta and Ardent tried to protect the mother ship.
That's something that a lot of people gloss over, The navies of countries especially hold each other in a lot of mutual respect and courtesy. In a time of ideals clashing and people killing each other, there are still gentlemen.
@@bobbabouy8537 Fr. Honour was more present in the seas and sky. A bit ironic (or poetic) knowing chivalry died on land the moment guns become the standard.
@@bobbabouy8537 Except the japanese, with some very few exceptions. Both the Americans and the Japanese often saw each other as subhuman, and therefore often didn't recognize gallantry the same way. The only one I can think of off the top of my head was some Japanese recognizing the heroics of Taffy 3, but I'm sure there's more.
@@estebanatachaoarguedas6321 Yes the gallant Luftwaffe strafing columns of Polish refugees.
Destroyers do not go silently into the night
wow, you stole a boring quote from a boring movie.
@@GM-xk1nwonly thing more boring is your mother in bed.
It's not originally from the movie@@GM-xk1nw
wow, nobody likes you@@GM-xk1nw
@@GM-xk1nw Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Such bravery and tragedy. My grandfather was a CPO on Glorious, his wife and my mother carried his loss throughout their lives.
Sincerest respects to his service, sacrifice and memory.
Huge respect
Mine was a machinist on Gneisenau, captured during Operation Berlin after being part of a prize crew, then 7 years as PoW in Canada. Got lucky I guess.
@@hernerweisenberg7052 War and conflicts inevitably brings huge cost and damage at the individual level. Respect to your grandfather for his service.
"The least we can do is make a show" is simply legendary. This man needs to be immortalized
We laid a wreath from our ‘Ardent’ in a moving service on a grey cold day over the resting place of the WW2 ‘Ardent’ in the winter of 1981/2. Little did we know that we would meet a similar fate 6 months later in the Falklands. RIP Brothers.
Respects to your own service Rob.
The last 3 HMS Ardent's have all sunk...there was HMS Ardent that was sunk at the Battle of Jutland. TY for your service during a very difficult conflict o7
I was in Hanson Division at Raleigh, named after Shaun Hanson and HMS Ardent. What you went through defies imagination. Thank you for all you did
A family member was on Fearless he did come home, the bravery of all who served will always be remembered God bless them Lest we Forget
@@jyralnadreth4442thats why you dont name ships after ones that have already sunk eg. Titan and Titanic
For an aircraft carrier to be caught so unaware of enemy vessels at that range is simply criminal.
Maybe it was used as a "ferry", making the use of their capabilities really hard to deploy. Still im sure there must have been some kind of based aircraft patrols over the area of the crossings. If there were any, then they probably left a gap, in which the kriegsmarine managed to enter safely.
It should never have been allowed to separate from the convoy. Especially for such a trivial reason as "Court marshall".
@@lightravenn Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes was proceeding independently with his escorting destroyers because he wanted to court martial his Commander (Air), J. B. Heath, the bloke in charge of HMS Glorious's air group. Ignoring advice from other officers he decided it was not necessary to have aircraft up searching the surrounding area for possible German warships. That fundamentally stupid decision cost three ships and around 1500 men. Aircraft were only ordered to launch after the Kriegsmarine had opened fire, they were still in the process of being readied when the first hit went through the flight deck and put paid to that.
Based on what I've heard here and elsewhere, it was the captain who should have been court-martialed even before the incident. He had no understanding of aircraft carriers which is a reason why his superiors should have been court-martialed. But that's not how things go@@meiketorkelson4437
the captain of Glorious thought he could outran Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. Wrong descicion but not criminal.
Also don't underestimate Acasta's torpedo. Those repairs took 6 months and meant that Scharnhorst would be unavailable for consideration for Sealion. Same as Gneisenau which took a submarine torpedo shortly after. Just one more factor on why the Kriegsmarine were dead set against even attempting Sealion.
Germany had no dedicated amphibious landing craft (unlike say Japan at this point) and even if they hadn't lost a fifth of their destroyers in the Norwegian Campaign; they were still massively outnumbered by the Royal Navy that would have been delighted for a German fleet to sail into the Channel bottleneck. Sealion was never a real possibility, even if the Luftwaffe had annihilated the RAF down to the last plane.
People don’t realize how small the kriegsmarine surface fleet really was, the Japanese center force in the battle of layte gulf had more vessels that the Germans had combined during all the war. Edit: I just made the count: 4 battleships (Bismarck out of the picture immediately) 6 heavy cruisers (I’m counting the “pocket battleships”, also blucher and graf spee out of the picture immediately) 6 light cruisers (barely sea worthy, 2 also out early on) 40 destroyers (1/4 of which got lost in a single battle earlier on and another 1/4 that was commissioned so late in the war that pretty much got sent to the slaughter house)
@@d.olivergutierrez8690 The Germans estimated in 1939 they would need until 1945 to build enough ships to match the Royal Navy, and that was only if the British didn't build a single ship in response. The Royal Navy started the war with 184 destroyers. Germany started with 22... And a year later had lost ten of them. Britain meanwhile had built more destroyers of its own to replace its losses and increase its strength, along with fifty provided by the Americans.
Frankly that could actually be counted against her, because Sealion would have definitely ended the war early in favor of the allies.
@@aquila4460 for real, it's what really annoys me when people claim that WW2 was even a close fight. The only thing Germany could do was bomb a few parts of the UK, and that wasn't going to knock them out of the war. The only way Germany could have defeated the UK was a naval invasion, and the answer to that is "with what ships?" They could maybe, MAYBE get boots on the ground, but the moment they landed on the UK, the entire Royal Navy would converge on the English Channel, and they wouldn't be able to get a single ship of supplies through. That's not even factoring the Soviet Union, either. For some reason there's this assumption that the USSR would have surrendered if they lost Moscow, but that's completely false. The USSR was already preparing to evacuate Moscow, and while it would be a hit to morale, they had lost many, many other significant cities. If Moscow fell, the USSR would just set up a temporary capital elsewhere, and keep fighting. They knew that the deeper Germany got, the longer their supply lines got, so they had no reason to surrender and would keep the war going until they faced mass revolts.
Truly awe inspiring. I do wonder if the captain of Glorious, had he survived, would've faced his own court martial for failing to maintain a proper lookout or combat air patrol.
Hard to say, he would absolutely deserve court martial for dereliction of duty but it depends on the political fallout. If Glorious managed to escape (possibly at the cost of the destroyers), then yes, it probably would happen. If Glorious still got sunk but he was later rescued by another RN ship, he probably would have been allowed to quietly resign in disgrace (or forced out if he refused). Yes, it's letting him off but it's also saving the RN the embarrassment of admitting that they lost a carrier to incompetence. They covered up the whole thing for years historically, after all. Kind of hard to court martial someone for something you aren't admitting actually happened...
@@dashsocur They would easily have court martialled him for losing the Glorious. They just wouldn't make the charges known to the public. The British armed forces did it all the time during the 19th and early 20th century. Preventing scandals that might embarrass the British government was a full time job for the War Office and Admiralty. There's a reason why the 'ex-officer drummed out of the military under "mysterious circumstances"' is a stock character in novels from the period.
There's not enough room on the ship or the hangers to carry all those planes. Thus they had to have the RAF planes on deck. That's why there's no CAP.
@@WALTERBROADDUSEven so there was no reason that Glorious needed to return without the rest of British task force.
@@bradleydavies4781 there was a dispute on the ship That was supposed to lead to a court-martial. The captain requested to return early.
Destroyer captains were truly a different breed
Read about Capt Gerard Broadmead Roope RN.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 I know of him. Or Captain Evans of the USS Johnston.
Yeah they dont make em that stupi d any more
The same was true of most of the RN frigate captains during the Falklands war.
WW2 is just full of naval stories that are inspiring and heartbreaking of all these little destroyers taking the gloves off against impossible odds.
Not all heroes wear capes. Some are just damned good at lining up torpedo shots.
And murdering their crew for no reason
Great account of the encounter. An added snippet from my various readings, _HMS Ardent_ had only a single survivor. He was picked up by a German seaplane, taken as a POW, then released mid-war for health reasons.
It was actually two survivors at first, but one quickly died of exposure. Acasta suffered a very similar fate in this regard, with two survivors managing to survive long enough to be picked up by a Norwegian merchant ship. One of the two later died of his wounds, leaving Leading Seaman C.G. Carter as the sole survivor.
@@garystu9878 Turns out, spending multiple days on a life raft in the North Atlantic (even in summer) is bad for one's health.
The survivor of Ardent was present at the commissioning of the last Ardent in October 1977.
I love these David vs Goliath stories of destroyers fighting to the bitter end against hopeless odds. These ww2 sailors were built different!
Uh .....this isnt a david and Goliath story. In that story david wins. Here?........... they're a$$es were handed to them
No search planes from carrier. You’d think the U boat threat alone would justify quite an aerial scout effort.
It's an interesting fact that the files relating to the sinking of the Glorious are among the very few left from WW2 that are STILL Classified. It promotes theories. Why was there no lookout, why was there no CAP, why was there almost no escort, what was she doing out there. Was it to do with saving Norwegian gold reserves, the Norwegian Royal Family, the Court Martial, etc.etc.. I doubt I'll be alive when (if) they eventually get de-classified, but I'd love to know what's so utterly controversial in those files!
Makes no sense they are still classified. They were heroes on the destroyers. If something smells like BS it usually is. Probably the reason no one got recognition for their gallantry which stinks
Embarrassing to have put someone so incomprehensibly stupid in command of Glorious and her escorts. There were signs of incompetence, and even mental disorder, which I suspect were reported and ignored by higher command. Such information would have been turned up in the investigation. Ultimately responsibility could have gone all the way to the top. Not good for morale, you know. (Bull Halsey and Marc Mitcher, as well as David Beatty earlier, were protected from their stupidities as well, and there were others.) The destroyer commanders were shortchanged to avoid further attention--something else that would be embarrassing if widely known.
Never bet against simple incompetence. It is a human superpower.
@@jimmiller5600 And my comment on this was removed for nothing obvious. Clearly more to this than meets the eye. Hope you see this before it gets yeeted and deleted
Any idea why comments are being removed from replying to this?
Lt Cdr Barker was a true hero. His son Capt Nick Barker was a great man and my Commanding Officer onboard HMS Endurance in 1980/81. My first ship in the Royal Navy? HMS Ardent (1977-79)
You have done a marvelous work of history telling. I'm a retired US Air Force officer but I must say, the British Royal Navy has a wonderful tradition of gallantry.
Haha yes going down fighting after f*&Ck1ng up is a bit of a British traddition :-)!
The Ardent and Acasta were in a similar similar situation to the destroyers Johnston, Samuel B. Roberts, and Hoel at the Battle off Samar (part of the Battle of Leyte) against the IJN's First Mobile Striking Force, Center Force, under the command of Admiral Takeo Kurita. Kurita commanded several battleships including the Yamato, the most powerful battleship ever built. The tin cans charged and engaged Yamato and Co. to protect escort carriers and transports. Like Ardent and Acasta, they too, were destroyed. But their actions were beyond brave and will be extolled in naval circles forever.
And Admiral Halsey probably should have been reprimanded if not courts-marshaled. His one job was to screen the landing forces and he took his carrier fleet chasing after a decoy force and left the US destroyers to clean up his f**k up. Ten thousand troops could have died.
13:21 Damn. An awful situation for sure but a badass way for that British captain to meet his end. With a cigarette lit and a goodbye/good luck wave to his men before going down with his ship.
All three HMS Ardents of the 20th Century were lost in action . Sobbering thought .
Complacency. That's the word that kept coming across my mind the entire time leading up to the engagement.
You got to be kidding me...if there were ever crews more deserving of postumous awards, than those on the Ardent and Acasta i have not heared of them.
Not to take anything away from the captains of both these vessels, but... there's a genuine sadness at AB Carter not scoring a gong for that torpedo launch. Fine work. Deserved proper recognition.
8:51 I can’t help but think that would kinda make for a epic painting. Depicting this moment.
I wasn't aware that Barker and Glasford hadn't been recognised for their efforts. Glasford's words to his crew put me in mind of the words of the USS Johnston's commander before her heroics, who also saw a battleship and decide "Come and have a go if you think your hard enough!". I think it's probably because all the historical interest is on what the heck Glorious was doing with no CAP, no observers and just two old, mildly obsolete A-Class destroyers for escort. Those decisions got three ships sunk and 1500 men killed, which is appalling. That embarrassing failure is probably why there isn't more recognition for Ardent and Acasta; the Royal Navy don't really want to talk about why such heroic sacrifices were necessary. But their story is just as heroic as Johnston, Glowworm and all the destroyers that assaulted Narvik, and definitely deserve much more recognition, precisely *because* of the hugely embarrassing circumstances. I appreciate the effort to recognise the actions of destroyers. The big carrier and battleship engagements are well known, but the utter fearlessness and bravery of so many destroyers and cruisers deserves just as much publicity and recognition. In that vein, do you have plans to cover Force K's utter demolition of the Duisberg Convoy in Nov '41? Which has been called one of the Royal Navy's most brilliant naval victories of WWII.
Please drop BetterHealth. It undermines the credibility of this channel
Agreed. Always disappointing to see that name appear on otherwise excellent channels
I don’t know much about BetterHealth beyond what’s in their ads, why do you think it undermines the credibility of the channel?
@@Jeremy_plays_sax dubious practices regarding the therapists they employ such as poor pay (and in the past they had unlicensed counselors providing services) and last year they were fined for misusing customer data (always what you want from a therapy provider).
Needs to make money from somewhere, might as well be from them.
@@tomriley5790 Or.... they could make money without shilling a shady product.
The bravery of the Destroyers never ceases to amaze me. The decisions they made to go head to head with state of the art Battleships in the face of certain death leaves me speechless and emotional. I try to imagine the emotions these men felt knowing they were going to die but doing their duty regardless. Mentioned in Dispatches is an insult given the ultimate outcome of allowing the troop transports to get home safely
Charles Glasfurd's speech to his crew after the Ardent sunk made my breathe catch in my throat, I served in the Marine Corps and if my brothers and sisters fell in battle I wouldn't want anything more than to go down with them fighting, to continue to fight in a hopeless already seemingly lost battle is true courage and bravery. God bless these men.
What kind of drugs did they give destroyer crews…….. the balls on these men
Soldiers widely used amphetamines in WW2, they were even given out by the army
It’s a miracle the destroyers didn’t sink under the weight of them
@@nonbigbrain9662 😂 noice
@@nonbigbrain9662indeed
esprit de corps is a hell of a drug
I genuinely teared up when I saw the courage these little ships displayed. its criminal they didn't get the recognition they deserved.
You have to be an incredible brave man to decide your fate (sinking with you ship) like that. Leaving your family, children, mom and father just for your honor. Im always speechless when I hear about those men.
I mean he led the ship on a suicide charge, would be a bit awkward for him then to just hop on a life boat and be like "Tally ho chaps, hope not too many of your friends died in that whole hulabaloo, let's go home". You kinda have to commit after a decision like that.
@@BobbyBlockable The only way he should get off if NOBODY on his ship died or due to his commands
Whist its incredibly romantic, it is a pretty senseles waste of life to die by going down with your ship when there's a chance of rescue & seemingly no lifeboat shortage, unlike circa 1912, for example. Nothing to take away from his heroic efforts but all those hours of training, experience, plus the toll on crew, family & friends, I mean, fight, fight to the bitter end if you can! I'm reminded of Alaska Airlines 261 pilot Captain Thomson, who after trying to fly the plane inverted alongside his copilot (jackscrew in the tail broke- faulty maintenance & cost cutting at Alaska), and as the nose pitched down, into the water he remarked "Here we go." & died, no survivors. Don't give in to despair. Resist, if you can.
@@BobbyBlockableI would argue he couldn't have escaped even if he wanted to. The wind kept pushing the smoke away and while the destroyer was faster than the battleships it wasn't that much faster. He had the choice to die at close range or at long range.
@@sethvanast8323 actually no. Heavy cruisers won’t waste high caliber ammo on a long shot and much smaller target. accuracy, reload time and how fast destroyers can change direction is simply too much for heavy guns that’s why the used smaller caliber guns against destroyers back then. So, he could’ve survived if he choose to run since the cruisers won’t chase him.
Their are 1000s of men of that convoy that owe their lives to the man who fired that torpedo. I hope he survived , but I suspect not.
His story is told in the book "the man who hit the scharnhorst " by John Austin.
The first few years of the war could be summarized as “the Allies underestimated their opponents”
Nice work on the animation on the shells hitting Glorious. Did not know that Scharnhorst has the record of one of the longest shots ever scored by a battleship. It’s one of my favourite battleships that keeps on shining!
Basically it's tied for the longest shot with Warspite.
According to a documentary from the 90s, Bletchley Park, although they hadn't cracked Engima, from radiolocation, they knew German navy were in the arena. But their reports were ignored. The Glorious's captain was criminally inept.
Thank you for showing more about this, especially what was happening on the Glorious.
Very cool, thank you for helping me with my History projects 👍🏻👍🏻
Destroyer Skippers of WWII were a special breed of brave. Great video.
Thanks you for the amazing vids!! Naval battles are my absolute favorite and you have the best videos about them.
I think the Captain of HMS Glowworm was awarded the VC on the recommendation of the German Captain of the Admiral Hipper.
I appreciate the effort put into the editing.
Exceptional video and it's absolutely sinking to hear that those valiant sailors haven't been given the credit they deserve. The ending was very moving, great episode!
I loved the use of diagrams and how it detailed the damage the glorious had to deal with! Same thr torpedo and artillery shells, very well done video
Always so exited when I see a new historigraph video, and I was not disappointed!
Scoring hits on two seperate battleships and forcing one to return to port after the same battleship has just sank a carrier is insane bro, these destroyer captains have balls of steel so strong not even a battleship could damage them
I have a picture of my Grandad taking off from HMS Glorious (june 1932) with one of those destroyers in the backgorund, it's a beautiful shot. It was taken by my grandad's rear gunner. I had no idea i was 8 years away from never existing!
Fantastic documentary as usual!
There is a plaque in Troon Old Parish Church in Scotland remembering a lost parishioner on HMS Acosta.
Great video. Thanks for posting.
Absolutely stunning bravery
Excellent video! Thankyou 🎉
Interesting to see a return to a subject already covered but I've always been interested in the tragedy of "Glorious". To think if "Acasta" had scored a second hit, "Scharnhorst" may have had very serious problems. R-I-P those on all three ships.
Fantastic video as always
Another terrific Historigraph video. Love this channel.
Sometimes heroes will not have an audience or a light of gratitude for what they've done. But at least we can remember these brave men now. Rest in peace sailors of Glorious, Ardent, and Acasta. Your sacrifice was not in vain.
Thank you for a great video. :D Brilliant. I hope to see more royal navy videos.
Fantastic content. Thank you.
I remember your previous on the sinking how the captain of the HMS Glorious refused to do CAP because he didn't believe in it. I know beggars can't be choosers when it comes to personal during war but the sinking could have been prevented.
Great video and quite humbling. Recently watched a chat on another channel about the award of VCs (or any award at all) and how it can be a bit haphazard, with all sorts of things coming into play.
What at terrific video and looking glorious in 4k! 👏
Love the new naval artillery animation.
Absolutely smashing lads. Cheers
If my memory is correct, Glorious did not have all her boilers online when the battle began. Just another sign of a poorly captained ship.
Not really, boilers require cleaning and maintenance so having one or more shut down while running on the others was a fairly common occurrence. The incompetence was in not having a few swordfish up keeping a look out on the surrounding area. The clue is in the Royal Navy designation of the swordfish, TSR, Torpedo, Spotter, Reconnaissance. Had that been done there's a good chance Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would have been spotted before they spotted Glorious allowing her to work up to full speed and GTFO.
Congratulations on the much improved visuals.
Destroyers man... How come the smallest of blue water ships are more often than not the absolute bravest as well?
another great video highlighting the insane sacrifice and bravery of ww2 destroyer crews
Thank you for your account, which highlights well the bravery of the Captains of Ardent and Acasta. The reasons for continued secrecy by the British Government regarding the sinking of Glorious, Acasta and Ardent remain shrouded in mystery. Secrets that are not scheduled to be released until 2041. Many are waiting for that release. My Uncle died on Glorious and my family still awaits that information. As well as failing to recognise the bravery of Ardent and Acasta, the Royal Navy, to their shame, refused to recognise the crews of the three ships in an official memorial until 2002. The families were not able to claim the Polar service medal, to which the crew were entitled, until the early 2000s. This belated recognition was finally dragged across the line by the persistent interventions of Alan Beith and Tam Dalyell in Parliament. There are details surrounding this naval disaster for Britain that are embarrassing to the Royal Navy and the British Government. The actions of the Devonshire, in particular, are questionnable and this was discussed in the parliamentary debate about Glorious's sinking in 1999. There is more to this. Surely this drama and the heroics of Ardent and Acasta would be worthy of a film?
I wonder how differently this would've went had they launched CAP's. If they had enough torpedoes, they possibly could've even sunk the German battleships! At the very least, cause them to retreat. In the end, it's touching to hear how their sacrifice likely saved the lives of thousands of other servicemen.
If they’d been able to get aircraft away they might have been able to distract the Germans & buy Glorious, Ardent & Acasta enough time to escape but that’s probably the best they could have expected. Glorious didn’t have a very large air wing at the time of the engagement.
@@grahamstrouse1165 I'd disagree attacks by swordfish would be a serious threat to both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at the very least they're not going to be able ot steam in a straight line and their position is going to be known which is likely to result in a cruiser meeting up and shadowing them (HMS York was nearby but didn't receive enough information) and that would likely lead to them withdrawing to Germany - if not then the RN Heavies would have been vectored in.... (similar to what happened to Bismark).
This is the first video I watch and I feel I obsessed with this channel 😭
Kind of absurd to have a carrier escorted with only 2 destroyers. But, the destroyers knew their duty, that aft torpedo ensign, knew his duty. Terrible stuff. But good stuff at the sametime.
It's been proposed that HMS Glorious was on it's way to attack a Swedish port (despite their neutrality), to deny what was considered vital iron ore shipments to Germany. It was one of Churchill's plans ( on Wiki somewhere, with it's proper code name). There originally were supposed to be 3 carriers attacking (the ones that had supported the Norway invasion & withdrawal), but in the end, only HMS Glorious was left. The reason given for no CAP patrol, or aircraft on deck, were that the Swordfish aircraft , were having to be modified at very short notice to have the range to attack the Swedish port. The armourers were still doing this when they met the German warships. The hurricanes on board were whatever could be got back from Norway, & it was quite chaotic. There is still no excuse for no lookout. Whilst HMS Glorious' commander did have a personal dispute with another naval Officer, it seems odd this would interfere with wartime duties. A RN cruiser did hear their distress calls, but couldn't help as it was ferrying the Norwegian Royal Family back to Britain. Whatever their ships, & against great odds, RN crews never showed a lack of courage, even if they only had converted merchant ships/cruisers (HMS Jervis Bay & Rawalpindi etc)
I would like to learn more about this but it sounds highly unlikely considering Sweden does not have any ports along the North Sea (only Baltic Sea) and that the HMS Glorious was sailing away from Norway increasing the flight range to Sweden. The Skagerrak Strait was controlled by Nazi Germany and was obviously not an option so I don`t quote see how this would make sense when there was land based airports closer to Swedish Ports?
@@hsmedsvik The port was on the Baltic side, which is why the Swordfish were going to have to leave crew behind & extend range. The plan was frowned upon by the military, & politically, attacking a neutral would have been seen as very bad, but the iron ore was considered vital for Germany by Churchill (which it was, but they traded with Sweden so got it anyway, & also from France). Found it - 'Operation Paul' - planned British attack on Lulea. I don't think Churchill mentions it in his memoirs either. It's been brushed under the carpet.
Great video tyvm
That was very cool and really moving.
Great Video
I'd love a series on other seiges of WW2, the videos in the Budapest series were some of the best you've made and were fantastic to watch. You could do Stalingrad, Leningrad or Berlin there's so many options.
Excellent video, and I'll applaud the quality of your narration. Had the CO survived, he would have been court-martialled and found guilty on serious charges. This disaster was avoidable. The key question: was the CO of GLORIOUS aware that these two enemy ships had been last 'imaged', in Germany, on, I believe, the 4th - so could have been at sea in his area?
why were no aircrafts launched?
Good question, I'll try and explain this in a short
Allied Carrier Couldn’t launch Aircraft! 🛩️⚓️ #navy #ww2 #history
when tf was this a thing on yt
@@AveriV1 lol I just found this out rn
@@Yorshe Me 2 it's kinda like Instagram now but better
HMS glorious, the carrier with the most inglorious final action.
Another quite brilliant portrayal, thank you. 👍 📚 🇬🇧 🙏
It would be very interesting to know what the after action interviews of the surviving crew members produced. It would also be interesting to know if the after action analysis included any recommendations or "lessons learned" action items that were distributed throughout the British navy; like don't become complacent and have a combat air patrol aloft when your aircraft carrier is sailing in hostile waters during war time. Respectfully, W.S.
It's very dated now, at least culturally, but "The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat really helps put you on the bridge of a WWII RN warship. It's still an outstanding window into that part of the war by an author who served on and commanded Corvettes and Frigates during that war
One thing you can say about the Royal Navy, even when outgunned and outnumbered, they were aggressive and willing to put up a fight.
scoring a hit on the third try from 24km is bonkers
Same as HMS Warspite on Guillio Cesare.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684And GC actually straddled Warspite a minute before she was herself hit.
@@niclasjohansson4333 Close !!! But no cigar !!!
Always hearing stories of the underdog ships being so cool. Respect to the men on those destroyers, not that they really had a choice.
16 more years and we will know the true story of this event (100 years secret). The KM did not consider this a victory, and Adm Wilhelm Marschall was relieved of his command because he attacked the warship instead of troopships, used too much ammo, and caused Scharnhorst to be damaged. There are 4 theories on this incident, I think 3 have been covered here (low on fuel, court martial, and Operation Paul), so here's the 4th: Heavy cruiser Devonshire had passed by, sailing within 48-80 km from the battle, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral John Cunningham. Survivors from Glorious and a few of Devonshire's crew testify that Glorious had sent a sighting report to Devonshire. However, Cunningham ordered the sighting to be suppressed and sailed away at high speeds, strictly following his orders. There are even allegations that there was confusion over wireless telegraph frequencies aboard Glorious, which contributed to the failure to give a sighting report. This debate over the circumstances of her sinking was the subject of discussion in the House of Commons on 28 January 1999 by Alan Beith, MP Berwick-upon-Tweed. It is posited that Devonshire couldn't go to rescue Glorious because it would endanger King Haakon VII, the Norwegian Royal Family, the entire Norwegian Cabinet and other Members of Parliament, and gold on board. Glorious had managed to send out 1 or 2 Morse-code action reports. In addition to the possibility of the message being garbled, or the location in the message being wrong, some also think that the message contained information that dissuaded Devonshire from helping, like danger in the area. Indeed, Devonshire did immediately go on full alert, increase speed and zigzag, which was the telltale sign that a battle was about to happen. Devonshire also had strict orders to stay the course for home and to maintain strict radio silence to protect their VIPs.
Will Jingles bring this up in his videos? Great videos as always!
This whole situation could have been avoided if Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes had not been in such a hurry to court marshall his flying officers and gone back with the rest of the fleet, The fact he was not even flying recon just adds to it, all those deaths just for one man's lack of understanding and pride
Destroyer captains are just a different breed
To the crews of the HMS Ardent, HMS Acasta, and HMS Glorious, you did your duty well and a pray that you are at peace. Rest well gentlemen and my you never be forgotten.
Those sailors wil never be forgotten
2:38 into the video there is a mistake: the ship in the foreground is the Gneisenau and in the background is the Scharnhorst. The difference between the 2 ships is easy to spot: the Gneisenau has its mainmast at the back of the funnel. The Scharnhorst had its mainmast further back on the ship, at the back of the hangar.
Nice video
Acasta and Ardent were like we go down you coming with us. Respect
Not even a Lookout on Duty. Brilliant! Where did they think they were? On an Island Cruise?
The difference in competence and courage of the two destroyer captains, compared with the incompetent and negligent captain of Glorious could not be more stark.
Great video. Maybe you could do the Battle of May Island 1918 some time, seeing how it is the aniversary today.
Suggestion for map related thing. Petsamo was part of Finland in 1940, Karelia was lost in Winter War. Norway did not had land contact with Soviet Union at this time. Nice animations, you made lot of work. Thank you for your good videos.
Winter war concluded March 40, this video is set June 40
@@historigraph Petsamo was annexed by Soviet Union after Continuation War, not Winter War. So your map is wrong.
It’s insane they scored a hit from that distance