HMS Glorious (77)

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HMS Glorious (1917) profile drawing.png
Appearance as a cruiser in 1917
career Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom, svg
Commissioned: March 14, 1915
Laid on the keel: May 1, 1915
Launch : April 20, 1916
completion October 1916
Commissioning: January 1917
Fate: Sunk on June 8, 1940
General data
Displacement: 22,360 t (fully loaded) as a cruiser
26,518 t (fully loaded) as a carrier
Length: 240.0 m
Largest width: 27.75 m
Draft: 7.5 m
Drive: 18 boiler of Yarrow
(235 pounds per square inch )
4 set Parsons transmission turbines (91,195 WPS )
Speed: 31.42 knots (56 km / h)
Range: 5860 nautical miles at 16 knots
(11,000 km at 30 km / h)
Crew: 829 as cruiser
1200 as carrier
Armament:
(as a cruiser) 		4 × 15 in (381 mm)
18 × 4 in (102 mm)
2 × 3 in (7.62 mm) Flak
14 torpedo tubes
Armament:
(as a carrier) 		16 × 4.7 in (120 mm)
24 × 2-pounder (1.5 in / 38 mm)
14 × .50 cal ( 12.7-mm ) machine guns
Airplanes: as cruiser: 2
as carrier: 48
Armor
(as a cruiser): 		Sides: 3 in (7.59 cm)
Deck: 1 in (2.53 cm)
Command
tower: 10 in (25.3 cm) Gun turrets:
Front: 9 in (22.77 cm)
Ceilings: 4.25 in (10 , 75 cm)
barbeds : 7 in (17.71 cm)

The HMS Glorious ( English for "glorious") was a warship of the Royal Navy . It was built during the First World War as a "large light cruiser " on the initiative of Admiral John Fisher , as was her sister ship HMS Courageous and the half-sister ship HMS Furious . Today she is mostly referred to as a battle cruiser.

The three ships were originally designed as support forces for operations in the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea , but were never used in this context. The Glorious was after the First World War in an aircraft carrier of the Courageous class rebuilt. On June 8, 1940, she was sunk during the evacuation of British troops from Norway by shelling the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau . 1519 people were killed.

Emergence

The Glorious was built at Harland & Wolff in Belfast , Ireland . The design provided for a light battle cruiser. With its 15- inch cannons and light armor, it was then classified by the Royal Navy as a light cruiser. She was laid down on May 1, 1915 and launched on April 20, 1916. The Glorious was completed in October 1916 and, after the break-in period and mandatory training, entered active service in January 1917. Construction costs were £ 2,119,065 .

The machine system was based on the geared turbine system of the light cruisers of the C-class , but had been doubled by two turbine sets according to the size of the ship. During a test in 1917, the Glorious managed to launch a torpedo from one of its underwater tubes at full speed . Such an undertaking had previously not been possible, because the maximum speed for torpedo launches was previously a maximum of 23 knots, as the higher water pressure entailed great risks of damage when firing. The cruiser's secondary weapons were novel 4-inch (10.2 cm) cannons in triple mounts designed to achieve a high rate of fire against torpedo boats and other smaller targets. However, it turned out that the loaders of the cannons interfered with each other and thus a lower volley rate than with three individual guns was achieved. The Glorious was faster than with a normal load, interestingly, when fully loaded 1½ knots. Because of its light construction and some errors that often forced it to the dock for repair work, it was jokingly called Uproarious ( English for: "rebellious", "raging", "noisy").

First World War

When the ship went into active service, it was the flagship of the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron and later the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron (the 1st and 3rd light cruiser squadron). On November 17, 1917, it met German forces in the Helgoland Bay together with the HMS Courageous and the HMS Repulse , but did not suffer any damage in the subsequent naval battle . In 1918 short departure ramps for planes were installed on the two gun turrets. On November 21, 1918, it was present at the reception of the ships of the German deep-sea fleet to be interned according to the armistice agreement by the Grand Fleet .

In 1919 the Glorious was moved to the Gunnery School (Artillery School of the Navy) in Devonport and used as a training ship. It later became the flagship of the reserve fleet .

Conversion to an aircraft carrier

1930 as an aircraft carrier

When the Washington Naval Treaty was signed in 1922, the Glorious was blocking too much tonnage as a capital ship, so it was decided to convert her into an aircraft carrier. The combination of the large hull , high speed and the original design as a cruiser made it the ideal candidate for the conversion. The renovation initially began in Rosyth , but when the shipyard there had to close in 1929, the ship was brought to Devonport for completion. The two removed cannon towers were later installed as towers A and B on the Vanguard . The intervention hit the defense budget for a total of £ 2,137,374. The structural changes began in 1924 and were completed just under six years later when the ship was put back into service on March 10, 1930.

After completion of the work, the HMS Glorious had two flight decks : the main deck at the top and a lower, smaller departure deck at the bow . During the revision work from 1935 to 1936, anti-aircraft cannons and two aircraft catapults for aircraft weighing up to 10,000 pounds were installed on the smaller, forward flight deck . The Glorious had hangars on two levels, both 550 feet (168 m) long and 24 feet high (7.3 m). The load capacity was around 48 aircraft. When she was returned to service, she carried aircraft of the type Fairey Flycatcher , Blackburn Ripon and Fairey III , later on the Fairey Swordfish and the Gloster Gladiator were converted. The Glorious differed from her sister ship Courageous by a longer end of the flight deck at the stern and a different mast .

Second World War

After the outbreak of World War II , the HMS Glorious served temporarily in the Mediterranean fleet . In October 1939, after crossing the Suez Canal , she reached the Indian Ocean and supported the combat group that was looking for the German ironclad Admiral Graf Spee . After the invasion of Norway began in April 1940, she was ordered back, and on April 23, she reached Great Britain with the HMS Ark Royal , only to set off for Norway the next day. There she carried out a series of strikes against German positions with her planes. On May 1st, after a few days' absence to refuel in the UK, she returned and continued her attacks. She brought along some Gloster Gladiators who were supposed to operate from a frozen lake but were quickly destroyed by the Germans. On May 28, the Glorious brought a squadron of Hawker Hurricanes to Bardufoss to protect the evacuation. On this voyage she had to do without an escort because no destroyers were available. Beginning June 5, 1940, she took part in Operation Alphabet , the evacuation of Allied troops from Norway. Three days earlier, their planes had already supported the evacuations in Narvik .

On June 8, the Glorious took on ten Gloster Gladiators and eight Hawker Hurricanes under Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes, who was a submarine specialist and had only ten months of experience on aircraft carriers . It was the first time that modern aircraft landed on an aircraft carrier without a catch hook . These planes had been withdrawn from Norway to avoid capture or destruction. The ship then left a larger convoy to operate independently. While she was on the move with her two destroyer escorts HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent in the Northern European Sea , the fleet was intercepted by the two German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and all three British ships were sunk about 315 kilometers from Harstad after a short, 70-minute battle . 1519 men were killed, only 45 sailors survived. However, the British combat group saved the weakly secured evacuation convoy from Narvik, which was then only 100 nautical miles north, from a disaster and let it escape undetected.

The Scharnhorst was badly damaged during the fight by a torpedo hit by the sinking Acasta and, like the Gneisenau, was hit by several 4.7-inch shells (12 cm). The two capital ships then had to return to Trondheim for repairs . The evacuation convoy crossed these areas safely and arrived at its port of destination without loss.

useful information

  • The sinking of the HMS Glorious was the subject of the propaganda German newsreel on June 22, 1940.
  • In 1997, Channel 4 from Great Britain made a documentary called The Tragedy of HMS Glorious ( English for "The Tragedy of HMS Glorious "), in which a surviving Royal Air Force pilot was interviewed.

See also

Web links

Commons : HMS Glorious  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Die Deutsche Wochenschau - OKW monthly picture report June 1940" - On the sinking of the HMS Glorious (from about the 2nd minute)