When a Destroyer Rammed a Cruiser - HMS Glowworm Documentary
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
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Shortly after 9am on April 8th 1940, the British destroyer HMS Glowworm rammed the 18,000 ton German Heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. It was the climax of a running battle that developed after a single British destroyer inadvertently stumbled into the middle of a full scale German invasion of Norway. This is the story of a fight to the end against overwhelming odds, and a tale of gallantry that was only recognised in the most extraordinary of circumstances.
0:00 - Norway 1940
2:19 - Wondrium
3:35 - The German Fleet Comes Out
5:29 - Glowworm Engages the Destroyers
7:28 - Admiral Hipper Enters the Fray
8:05 - Glowworm's Last Stand
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Credits:
Animation for this video by:
/ scuffed_lund
/ addaway23
Lutz Olaf
Artwork Lead:
/ chrisbyflanker
Written, Directed and Produced by:
/ addaway23
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Sources:
Geirr Haar, The German Invasion of Norway: April 1940
IWM Oral History interview with Albert Noel Harris, stoker onboard HMS Glowworm www.iwm.org.uk/collections/it...
IWM Oral History interview with Fred Smith www.iwm.org.uk/collections/it...
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)
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"Stay the Course" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Other music and SFX from Epidemic Sound 
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Take care man
I just want you to increase the frequency of your videos' uploading.
Once in 2 or 3 months is too much, isn't it ? 🤔
Make videos on British Pacific Fleet.
Hey there thanks for awesome work.
Would you do videos on lesser known naval engagements too? GlowVSHipp is a pretty well known one. Would you do a video on the likes of Jap carrier operations around Port Darwin or HMS Hermes and Eagle's pirate hunt in Indian Ocean?
@@lilboy3102 Believe me - I want to increase the frequency too! But I won't compromise on quality, and I don't have limitless resources unforunately, so there's not a silver bullet
Your videos are most excellent!
It's already a huge achivement to earn a Victoria Cross, but to earn one thanks to a recommendation from the enemy you died fighting is a whole another level of badassery
Gallant of the Germans. Sad that the gallantry did not last.
@Laird Cummings Hellmuth Heye was a special case. Old school Imperial navy and good enough to be retained for service in the Reichsmarine in the inter-war years.
It has often been said that the highest honor one can receive is to have one's actions recognized by an enemy.
It’s happened several times in ww2..
@@lairdcummings9092 some of them never lost it. Some of them never had any. Like all of us.
You gotta hand it to Captain Heye of the Hipper. During the midst of a war, finding the time to personally contact the British Admirality and recommending the highest award available for gallantry to another captain who had just damaged his own ship, taking on 500 tonnes of water and killed several of his own crew. And then swinging round exposing himself to pick up enemy survivors. For Heye to be able to see through all of that and recognise his enemies Gallantry for what it was truly amazing. Without that report from Captain Heye, we may never have got to fully recognise Gerard Roope's Gallantry.
Heye must have been a true professional sailor who could rise above politics to recognize another such professional.
@@rumplestilskin5776 a short sidenote. When the st nasiare raid took place, the actual commandos who were captured after the raid were reciveing pats on the back from german soldiers for their tenacity. Thus proving no matter if you're friend or foe, gallantry is universally recognised. A fascinating trait.
@@rumplestilskin5776 definitely a professional, he joined the navy at age 19 at the outset of the Great War and served throughout the inter-war years and WW2, retiring at the rank of Vice Admiral.
Similar situation was Luigi Durand de la Penne, who was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour for his actions during the Italian raid on Alexandria, heavily damaging the battleship HMS Valiant. The award was confered to him, in 1945, by the commanding officer of the Valiant at the time of the raid Charles Morgan, upon Morgan's own request. Man got given his comendation for blowing up a battleship, by the commander of said battleship.
Thanks for sharing. Nice to know their were true professional soldiers on every side.
One can hardly say enough for the German Capitan who recommended this award. That, in itself, was an act of gallantry.
And the fact that they went back to pick up Glowworm's survivors, when really the tactically sound move would have been to steam away.
@@OptimusWombat Absolutely
@@CorePathway I think you are missing a point. The destroyer was engaging a couple of evenly matched ships and was then set upon the cruiser, which was much faster. The destroyer would have been destroyed if it attempted to run. It was run and get destroyed or go down fighting.
@@drppenev thanks for setting me straight
@@drppenev not quite true! Glowworm’s maximum speed was 37 knots, while the far heavier Hipper could manage 32. It is doubtful if Glowworm could have escaped even if she attempted to flee as soon as she encountered the heavy cruiser. But your comments about relative speeds are not factual.
If I recall correctly, Heye's recommendation included the detail that Roope probably could have saved himself had he taken a rope when first available. Instead, he stayed in the water trying to make sure as many of his men as possible were pulled to safety. By the time he took hold of a rope himself, the icy waters had sapped his strength too much for him to hold on. That additional level of heroism may have been a deciding factor in him receiving the Victoria Cross instead of a lesser award for valor.
Based on that account, Heye has earned a lot of respect. Whilst it is customary to sail around and pick up enemy survivors of a ship you just sank, writing to the opposition and recommending an award be given to your adversary is something that one should be proud of.
Because he was old navy, the sea is neutral, it tries to kill everyone it doesn't care what flag is flying.
the British never picked up German sailors from the Kriegsmarine
@@maddog8004 how many survivors did the Bismarck have?
@@sjonnieplayfull5859 Nice you mention that out of the over 2200 German Sailors they saved 100 and let over 1500
(that made it of the ship) drown right there
Allied soldiers killed more Italian, French, Dutch and Belgians than the Germans
More Germans (incl. Civilians) got killed (usually in the first 14 days of) in captivity (before registration with the Red Cross) than in actual Combat.
@@maddog8004 Nice of you to admit that your first comment was pure and utter bullcrap, but you do have a strange way of describing it, and somehow a lot of lies go along with it, but if those lies have the same truth as your first post, it's ok. You can always become a Russian
My great Uncle Duncan was one of the Glowworm survivors. He didn’t speak German when he joined the RN, he did when he was released at the end of the war. Thank you so much for doing this. I spent nearly 20 years in the Royal Australian Navy and only knew a small bit about it. Uncle Duncan never really spoke much about it.
My uncle was sub Lieutenant on Gloworm, was lost, only 21 😢
The Last Stand of HMS Glowworm, is one of my favourite naval engagements, due to the outstanding heroism of her captain and crew, even against hopeless odds
It reminds me of a British USS Johnston
Must be a British thing. Growing up my favorite naval engagement story was the _Battle of Midway._ This certainly was a quite the story to tell though. A grim reality that not every hero story in WW2 ends with the hero getting to go home at the end of the nightmare 😕
Guessing you'd like the piorun of the polish free navy in ww2?
@Julianna.Domina another great and honourable story 🙏
Indeed!
To bravery of humanity!
The commander of the Hipper was a very honorable man. It takes a lot to recognize the bravery of an adversary. Moreover, the Hipper commander risked his own ship to rescue enemy survivors. War tends to quickly destroy chivalry, but not in this case.
There are two places where chivalry and honorable warriors are often found, in war. The sea, and the sky. On the ground, its much more difficult. But in the air and on the ocean? You see your opponents more as the vehicles they are using, and less the people aboard/piloting it.
Probably went to same school/uni as British captain, all same class!!
@@MrJinglejanglejingleyou’d think it would be the opposite. Easier to say “fuck em” if they’re in a metal box than a infantry soldier with a human face. Reality is weird sometimes.
@@Xavieus You'd really think so, huh? But when its on the ocean or in the air, you start to see your opponents more as the machines they use rather than the people within them.
Whereas on the ground... There's only one foe to fight. Another Human.
@@MrJinglejanglejingle very true. Not to mention sailors and airmen are mostly trained to man ships and fly planes so once their weapon system is gone, they have nothing else to be a threat with.
The saddest story of the whole thing was the sailors who went missing
I thought abou that, imagine falling overboard and knowing that your energy was going to run out before you could swim anywhere or be seen by any ship. Just know you were going to drown. That would have been fucking grim.
@@RCShufty not sure if it makes it better - but you don’t get long to suffer thinking that
That far north most people are dead within minutes of hitting the water - especially as the shock of hitting it usually results in taking big deep breaths (of water)
The number one rule for man over board drills in the North Sea, is don’t be a man overboard in the North Sea.
Source: sailed the North Sea plenty
@@CountCristo horrifying.
@@RCShufty It's true man. Anything north of the tropic of cancer and you're dead within 5-10 mins, 20 with a survival suit. Goddamn oceans.
@@malcontender6319 Damn, I guess I'm dead then.
Interesting fact I found about this engagment, the Victoria Cross Captain Gerard Roope's was awarded was both the first and last one awarded for WWII. To explain, the engagement occurred in April 8th of 1940, marking the the first action of WWII where the Victoria Cross was earned. However due to not being informed of his action until the near end of the war Captain Roope's Victoria cross was the last one award for WWII in July of 1945 (the medal given to his widow in 46). So while his award marks the first action the cross was awarded for during the war it was the last one given out for the war.
The thing that is sometimes hard to remember, is that the enemy was the ship, not the crew. The effort taken to save as many lives as possible, even the enemy, alwasy astounds me in these stories of ww2
it was like this during first few months
no matter friend or foe, then & now, navymen has one common enemy which is the sea
A true soldier knows he fights for the call of duty, and honor should be always present. No matter your rank. Of course, sadly in many wars this was not the case.
@@kusada3035 the sea is a cruel bitch.
@@hphp31416 Tbh a lot of the first stages of the war, while still bad (duh, ww 2germany) where not AS BAD as other wars where, there where still a LOT of people who where just in the army, navy or whatever that unironically where just following orders, its not until the fanatic part of the war, the "total destruction" part of the war set in that you still see stuff like this.
specially on russia- You can still find bombs around.
As brave as Glowworm’s charge was, there were others that aren’t as recognised against greater odds. Yarra, edsall, Jervis bay, Espero, Electra, Rawalpindi, Ardent and Acasta. All went against significant odds and died for it, some to hit as hard as they could, some to by time so others could escape their fate, most against taller odds than Glowworm. Some do have some degree of recognition but most have faded into relative obscurity.
Yarra, for example, was the sole escort of a small convoy headed for Australia around the the time that ABDACOM collapsed. One morning they ran into a raiding flotilla consisting of three Takao class cruisers with two modern destroyers. Despite only being a sloop, Yarra charged them and fought hard before ultimately being sunk. Her charges did eventually meet the same fate unfortunately. Rankin has a submarine named after him, but no VC.
Entirely agree. Have done videos on Jervis Bay and Ardent/Acasta (tho an old one). Working my way through a list of great stories
Japan fought impossible odds too and were often overwhelmed by numbers. Every country has pretty gallant moments. Regardless of your bias ness history is full of amazing true stories.
Saburo Sakai.
@@historigraph wish you did one on the battle of the sunda straight. it is an utterly incredible and fucking bonkers story.
Edsall in particular had the worst odds of all, far worse than, say, Taffy 3’s, or even Yarra’s or Rawalpindi’s.
She went down fighting against MOST OF THE KIDO BUTAI INCLUDING FOUR OF THE CARRIERS.
A completely hopeless fight if there ever was one (Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu attacked her with impunity once they were able to launch aircraft, due to being too far away for Edsall to do anything about them), but she lasted far beyond what was expected of her and bought enough time for rescue efforts to be made for the survivors of Pecos.
Never forget the legend of taffy 3
when the USS Johnston arrived at Davey Jones' Locker, the HMS Glowworm was there to greet her
"Not bad mate, but did you consider ramming?"
"I did. Unfortunately, I sank before I could try."
Captain Heye deciding to rescue the survivors and then later on send a letter to the British about what went on was a noble thing to do.
Full respect to Captain Helmuth Heye... an officer and a gentleman.
The actual cause of the ship sinking was the weight of the giant balls of that entire crew to pull that off.
Much respect to the German Captain for both staying to rescue survivors and reporting what he'd witnessed too.
The same kind of respect gets out toward Admiral Bruce Fraser, who said after sinking the Scharnhorst: ""Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today."
It blows my mind that they would go back to save the survivors. A while ago you were trying to shred each other to pieces, not having a friendly sparring match. It's so sad to think that they really didn't want to fight, but they were ready to go to the end if it was necessary.
@@mrkiky That was what was usually done when possible. Leaving out sailors who have no other support can be almost a siging of their death and any sailor hopes that the other side would do the same for them. I believe up to a point U-boats tended to give a ship a warning to evacuate before sinking it, even dragging lifeboats closer to safety, though I am not sure about that last part.
Indeed, the captain and his crew of HMS Glowworm had balls bigger, heavier and stronger than the ship's anchors. The German captain was such an honorable man with a heart made up of gold.
@@MDP1702 if a U-boat torpedo crippled but did not sink a ship, they often did signal the ship to say they would soon sink her so get off the ship.
Heye and the crew of Hipper treated the survivors of Glowworm like they were heroes. They weren't enemies, but were men whose bravery must be recognized. To that end, Heye ordered some memorial to Glowworm be included on Hipper, to remember the destroyer that stood against such odds and went down fighting, believing that this memorial might inspire the men of Hipper. To memorialize the little destroyer, the superfiring forward turret of Hipper, on the side where Glowworm struck (and roughly at the position she struck Hipper) had "Glowworm" emblazoned on the turret. Until the war ended, Hipper carried the Glowworm into battle with her, never letting her crew forget the gallantry of Roope and the crew of that British destroyer.
It's a few graves here in Trondheim at the commonwealth war cemetery that is from crew members of the Glowworm . I take my kids to play there on our liberation day. Thinking that the men in the graves should be close to the kids, as it's the life of those men, that have given the kids their freedom.
Beautiful words. Thank you for them.
You remind me of a time in Normandy. I had the honour to escort some vetrans to a cemetery to pay respects to the fallen comrades. As we were there some kids ran in laughing. One of our party yelled at them to show respect. A vetran turned on him saying Stop that! let them laugh. What do you think these men died for?
What a very kind comment.There is a war cemetery at Suda Bay, Corfu. It runs almost flat onto the beech. No tourists seem to bath there. It's a sad place, especially when you look at the ages of the soldiers. The Greeks keep it immaculate.
Kind and honourable words , thank you sir.
The bravery and honour of both captains and crew is legendary. The Glowworm for a heroic final stand against extreme odds, and the Admiral Hipper for not only putting themselves at risk to rescue the Glowworms crew, but also contacting Britain to tell them about their bravery. True legends of the sea
Everybody here talking about gallantry and honour - give me a break. How does the saying go again? War is old men talking and young men dying. This sort of language exemplifies that. The British crew did their duty in one of the few morally justified wars in history. The German crew did what was expected of them and picked up survivors - if they did not do this the British would not reciprocate, which would be bad for Germany. Not an epic tale of bravery to me, just another sad tale of lives lost because a mad dictator wanted to conquer the world.
@@shaddaboop7998 spoken by someone who truly just sat on the couch his whole life
@@strammerdetlef Spoken by someone who's witnessed the reality of human conflict. Nothing heroic about the industrialised murder of human beings, sorry.
You must be a hit at parties. You are either too jaded or too inhuman to appreciate the glimpses of true humanity in conflict. Yes, it is sad that humans continue to steive to kill each other, but those who manage to reamin human and hinorable are what gives people hope.
@@Muschelschubs3r Weirdly war and extreme human suffering aren't usually topics at parties so yes, I am fun at parties.
The horror of war is that it dehumanises those affected by it. Like you said there are only glimpses. The whole pomp of congratulating your enemy after a mutual mass murdering session just seems insane to me. There's nothing chivalrous about industrial warfare.
Glowworm and her crew won't go down without a fight
RIP
The stories of HMS Glowworm and USS Johnston, will never be forgotten. RIP those brave men 🙏🫡
Of the 18 G and H class destroyers built only four survived the War, the longest being Hotspur which was scrapped in 1972 having being sold to the Dominican Navy in 1948. HMS Glowworm was third of the class to be lost, after HMS Gipsy (21st Nov. 1939) and HMS Grenville (19th Jan. 1940).
I've always said about this story that if an opponent recommends a country's personnel for a bravery award, then that person deserves the very highest award that country has. And I would say Roope definitely earned that award and the entire crew of Glowworm should have been proud of their determination. Glowworm's final battle is one the Royal Navy should be proud of.
From what I've learned over the years, Royal Navy Destroyers took pride in their aggressive tactics and a determination to take the fight to the enemy as often as possible. The fact Glowworm was happily chasing two larger German destroyers and didn't even hesitate to have a go at Admiral Hipper as well is a testament to that mentality.
Captain Heye deserves credit as well, he could've left the Royal Navy crew to their fate, but he was obviously a very honourable naval officer and I believe went against standing orders in that act, and subsequently by taking the action he did to communicate Roope's actions to the British via the Red Cross.
It’s difficult to comprehend the bravery and dedication to duty that Glowworm’s crew showed. To ram a ship of even equal size is of itself a perilous action, but to do so against a ship of significantly greater stature than your own is gallantry of the highest order.
There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Surrender was an option - a lot of men died pointlessly for one man's 'death or glory'. It's the naval version of the charge of the light brigade...
@onlyra6265 , Your comment is about as asinine as it could possibly be. Can definitely tell you have never served in any capacity. Because, if you had, you wouldn't say such a moronic statement. He would have been chased down by the much faster ship in those heavy sea state waters. He actually saved lives through his actions, because fighting at distance, whilst trying to run, would have led to nearly all hands being lost, if not most. Chief Electronics Technician Submarines (SS/IDW) Retired. Hooyah!
What a man. Could’ve left those men stranded and for dead. But he spun around and rescued them. AND wrote the enemy of their man’s gallantry. Honor like that is rarely seen.
I was glad to see that Captain Heye survived the war, passing in 1970. By all accounts I can find he seemed a decent person.
The scariest part of this video is the idea of being one of the poor sods who got swept overboard, very few worse fates than that
Raise your hand if your mood suddenly changes when you see Historigraph has uploaded a new video ! 😅👍🏻
Nobody.
Captain of the glowworm: “perhaps today is a good day to die. Prepare for ramming speed!”
They gave their tomorrow's so we could have today. Brave men all, we thankyou deeply RIP
he won a medal for "Supreme Coolness"
I love that this is on an official document.
When I need a minute to remember what a terribly bad soldier I was and to have some humility I think of this battle.
Those German naval boys had a serious old school honour code. Even during full scale war there were standards to be maintained.
Something great about this channel is learning about small acts in a much wider and messy war. Great video, what a tale.
imagine all the lost stories...
The name Glow-worm deserves to be known like victory, bismarck, and enterprise
indeed it did Glow.
many ships deserve such recognition, but are sadly almost forgotten
The heroic Glowworm and the honorable Hipper, what a story!
The moment when even the enemy captain recommended the Admiralty to give you a Victoria Cross.
Captain Heye is an absolute Gentleman. Gives me goosebumps that that man had such respect for his opponent.
True honor and professionalism shown by Captain Heye. There are many examples of such honor, but it all died from WW2.
I first read about this incident over 50 years ago while in high school in a novel entitled "Battle of the April Storm" by Larry Forrester. Although it's in novel-form, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the battle.
That was the first time I encountered this as well. I still have a copy of that somewhere.
I too read about this sea battle in “The Battle of the April Storm “ by Larry Forrester. I’ve lost my copy of the book, though.
Same here, I read it when it first came out '69. It's a fictional account of a historical event, much of it true. The two RN sailors stationed at the rear gun, pumping shells into the side of the Hipper (probably didn't penetrate the armour) while the Glowworm was lodge in the side of the Hipper, was apparently true.
I've still got a copy. Although the events in the book are mostly accurate, the characters are complete fiction. In the novel it was Captain Wreyford commanding HMS Glowworm, not Captain Roope. The fictional Wreyford was somewhat of a coward.
Alister MacLean's first novel "HMS Ulysses" ends with a fictionalized version of these events. The same plot point of a smaller British naval vessel ramming a larger, Hipper-class German ship, is used. When I first read that novel in high school, I was unaware of the historical facts surrounding the story but was moved by the magnitude of that wartime sacrifice.
its the one thing that always like to admire about the royal navy, that no matter the odds and irrespective of risk to the crew, you always push forward and take the fight to the enemy. nelson would have been proud. just glad that the german captain respects these facts too.
something the Regia Marina found out during WW2. the amount of times Italian capital ships were chased off by destroyers is quite funny considering the modernity of their ships compared to the RN.
The kriegsmarine was the one outnumbered. It's ships always fought in numerical disadvantage. Not disrespecting the RN tho
@@hashteraksgage3281 The Kriegsmarine was outnumbered but did a damn impressive job, considering their assets vs their tasks. They made it an actual competition with the RN, and the RN performed as gallantly and as determined.
I seem to remember the Iranians capturing some of our "finest" recently without a shot being fired.
Amen
This is a great story now all we need is the story of Piorun, the destroyer who fought against Bismarck for hours before leaving in a draw. Fun story for the Poles.
"I AM A POLE" - Piorun
I cannot get enough of these videos. This channel is a treasure trove for history nerds, keep it up
Interesting that Heye decided to still rescue the enemy when he knew that the taskforce was on a timetable that earlier didn't allow for the rescue of their own man
These small documentaries you do are bloody brilliant, keep up the good work,
It always amazes me when I hear stories like this one where the crew of the very ship that just sank their enemy and themselves receiving bad damage then immediately do everything to save the sailors who they tried to kill minutes ago. I guess that’s honor
Just found this channel - exactly the stories I was looking for - fantastic quality. I’m not sure if some of these stories are common in the military historian world, but many I have not heard about, and I’ve been on a binge of this content for a couple of months now. Great work
Wow. Thank you for sharing this incredible story of bravery, duty and dedication.
Fantastic video, the little destroyers always have the most courageous men. Rip to the fallen
The way your video captured the action and the chaos is unreal. The narration really pulls you in, too. It's like you're right there in the heat of the battle. Big props to the people who made this. It's a stark reminder of the reality of war and the bravery of those who fought. Awesome video.
with every video, the editing and animations just keep getting better, great job
Incredible history documentary, keep up the great work!
You need to do Samar and Taffy 3 vs center force.
yeah we will definitely do it- but alongside the rest of leyte gulf, so will be a huge project
@@historigraph nice
@@historigraph Samar "David vs Goliath "
Sibuyan sea "bitch slap"
Surigao strait "clubbing baby seals"
Ikr both philippine sea and layte are very underwhelming it in terms of coverage, drobak sound and savo island have like three videos of this style for f*ck sake
The re-accounts of destroyer combat action are my favorite. Destroyer crews of all nations know the odds are stacked against them, yet they persevere.
Amazing story of courage and gallantry from both sides.
You can say alot about Royal Navy and Kriegsmarine. But one thing I like is that, even through they were enemies, then they didnt really hesitate to help the sailors of their enemies once they had abandon ship. Unlike what we mostly know what the Japanese Navy did during the war. I dont know if we have records of US navy ships helping japanese sailors out of the water
After the Laconia incident german U-boats were ordered to not help.
Sailors of all nations may be friends or enemies based on the whims of their governments, but all sailors share the same, common foe, the seas themselves.
@@Ghreinos I know there is some incidents where they cant or arent allowed to help the others in need. But I mean in general
There were a few attempts (particularly at the beginning of the war) but the fact that the Japanese sailors themselves would often resist such rescue attempts (even going so far as sometimes trying to pull potential rescuers into the water with them) it soon became unofficial policy to leave them to the mercies of the sea. That's not to say that no further attempts were made but they were generally for the purposes of trying to get prisoners for intelligence rather than purely humanitarian reasons. Most sailors just didn't think it was worth risking their life for someone who didn't want to be saved in the first place.
@@dashsocur and even then there were those who knew the right thing to do
In 1942 after the Second Battle of the Java Area Lieutenant Commander Shunsaku Kudo captaining the destroyer Ikazuchi rescued over 300 American and British sailors who had been in the water for days at that point, despite the fact that this risked his ship to submarine attack
And he never told anyone about it, the only reason we found out is because one British sailor in the 2000s wanted to find the captain who rescued him and the others, but sadly, Kudo passed away in 1979
Hats off to the German captain for his gallantry.
As always, top notch military history coverage. Thank you!
From the UK here too. I follow a few history channels and have always liked history. I dip my toe into all periods and have never heard this story. Really well presented with great visuals. It's a short video but it's not rushed either. First time to your channel and I like it.
For those commenting about the senior surviving officer, Lt. Ramsay, saying that neither the helm or emergency steering was manned at the time of collision, and thus the ramming could've been accidental (Wikipedia quotes a source that claims this), I'm wondering about why the captain would order a turn towards the cruiser instead of away if the steering and helm was still manned before collision. Though perhaps in the last few moments it wasn't manned, there seemed to be an intent to ram by Lt. Commander Roope. I guess it would also be possible that the steering was damaged suddenly and that made Glowworm turn, but the same Wikipedia article says he did order the turn, according to the same source.
Ramming a ship would have the effect of putting the glowworm under the german crusers guns. Running would be suicide.
how do you man the hull?
he rammed it because if he would have turned away, they still would have been sunk
@@joeclayton2121 think he meant to say "helm"
@@Aelxi yeah
What likely happened was the captain ordering the ramming, then having his people out of the area for the more than likely conclusion of abandoning the ship.
20 years in the USN, 12 on ship duty and going over the side is a fate I would wish on no one.
Extraordinary. Thank you for sharing this.
Excellent video! Thank you for making it!
that's just one of those "wow" stories that you don't often hear. rip all the brave souls of hms glowworm.
My heart and thanks go out to the crew of hipper they risked getting surrounded by saving glow worms men and for that from a British man thank you for seeing the humanity in war
Always liked this story, goes to show how a small destroyer can stand up against a superior enemy
Little shortage of lopsided odds during that era...on both sides of the war & both sides of the world.
If you like this story you should google taffy 3
@@keesvanwesterop2954 I know that one, the Johnston, Hoel, Heermann and Samuel B. Roberts, all against the Japanese fleet
@@inklinggirl6724 and the japenese fleet retrieted
@@keesvanwesterop2954 despite having the Yamato
Wow. Outstanding. Thank you for this video!
This story reminds me of the tale of the italian Destroyer Espero and her fate in WW2, would highly recommend doing a video on her.
A single Italian Destroyer charging straight into an entire British task force of 7 cruisers and 16 destroyers to save her convoy, firing her guns for hours and delaying them so the rest could escape.
Please i beg of you, do a video on her nearly forgotten story.
Crazy that they didn't stop for their own sailors due to the time constraints, but did for the enemy.
The Brussels Convention 1910 specified all ships must attempt rescue of all survivors. There where 146 sailors on Glowworm. It’s not illegal in war doctrine to abandon your own sailors but it is illegal to abandon the oppositional forces survivors.
The Russian forces used “barrier troops” to shoot any solder who tried to retreat in many battles of WWII.
During the Spanish Civil War solders were also shoot if they tried to return from the battle lines. Ernest Hemingway wrote about this after his time volunteering during the war.
@@colinjohnson5515 I also think it was out of respect for the enemy
Whether you were in the Royal Navy, US Navy or the Kreigsmarine, they all shared a common enemy, the sea itself.
It says a lot about someone when their enemy sings their praise.
Keep up the great work!
Wow! 😮 Thank you for sharing such an amazing story! Such bravery and such honor.
Admiral Heye tho, decides to take the risk of enemy reinforcement and saves the enemy from freezing to death (even if it's as prisoners), then writes a letter during the war to recommend a medal to the enemy.
I was just coming back from Drachinifel, binging back from 3 Battles for Narvik, and suddenly theres this? Are you a mind reader?!
Thank you for sharing this story.
That was an amazing story. Thank you for sharing this.
Actually the award must be given to German soldiers for saving the enemies from freezing to death.
Thanks for shairing this, this story was buried amongst others of ww2. An inspiring story of bravery.
Excellent video as always. Thanks for sharing :)
It is a shame that no mention was made of the impact the damage to the Admiral Hipper had. Were they able to complete their mission on schedule? How long was the cruiser out of action for repairs? The crew of the Glowworm were phenomenally brave, but what gains did their sacrifices bring?
The repairs to the Hipper took 2 weeks to complete according to wiki. Hipper's brand new sister ship was sunk during the same operation by a Norwegian costal battery.
She continued her operation of troop ferry to Trondheim, disguised as a British ship. She stay there for 2 weeks for damage repair from Glowworm engagement. And she headed back to Germany after that.
@@Aelxi Thanks both.
An honorable opponent is all one can really hope for in war.
Loving these, I'm not bingeing but am watching a few every other day and thoroughly enjoying them, seriously well in Sir. 🇬🇧
What an incredible story. I love your posts!
Brave little Glowworm
Another event I was never aware of. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent story. Thanks for posting.
Wait, world of warships taught that if you ram an enemy ship, your ship automatically explodes, I’ve been lied to!
duh, it was a full health hipper vs a low health destroyer obviously
I have witnessed men in war act with such bravery, that it took ones breath away. I have seen those same men freeze with fright. Bravery is all one hopes for in those trying times, but it rides on a knives edge. And it could go either way. Inspiring story.
Great story I have never heard. Thanks much for the video.
Excellent job on this video, keep up the great work!
This is why Glowworm gets extra ramming damage in Azur Lane
Anime is gay af
My name is jafar i come from afar ALLAHUAKBAR
I was not expecting to be crying so hard by the end of this. Excellent video, thank you! ♥
I very much likes your animations showing the battle. Made it easy to understand. Including the hits on Glowworm. Well done.
An amazing story and well presented, thanks
Another great episode, well done!!!
Loved this story, thank you.
This tale gives me chills. Respect to Glowworm and Hipper both, that was an amazing battle.
This is an outstanding channel - thanks!
What a great story that I have never heard of. Thanks so much!