Lots of interesting stuff in this week's issue.
Why, yes. Yes I would warmly welcome a box of Haddon Hall Cigars for Fathers Day.
Good thing this happened back then, when America had some stones.
Thank you.
The sinking of aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two escorts remains something of a mystery. She had all her aircraft below deck, no combat air patrol, and was unable to launch aircraft when attacked. Only 45 survivors, 1500 lost.
http://www.warship.org/no11994.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Glorious
“”In the night of 7/8 June, the Glorious, under the command of Captain Guy D’Oyly-Hughes (who was a submarine specialist and had only ten months experience in aircraft carrier operations), took on board ten Gloster Gladiators and eight Hawker Hurricanes from No. 46 Squadron RAF and No. 263 Squadron Royal Air Force, the first landing of modern aircraft without arrestor hooks on a carrier. These had been flown off from land bases to keep them from being destroyed in the evacuation after the pilots discovered that a 14lb sandbag carried in the rear of the aircraft allowed full brakes to be applied immediately on landing.
Glorious was part of a troop convoy headed for Scapa Flow, also including the carrier Ark Royal, but in the early hours of 8 June Glorious requested and was granted permission to proceed independently, and at a faster speed. It is believed this was because D’Oyly-Hughes was impatient to hold a court-martial of his Commander (Air), J. B. Heath, who had refused an order to carry out an attack on shore targets on the grounds that the targets were at best ill-defined and his aircraft were unsuited to the task, and had therefore been left behind in Scapa to await trial.[1] While sailing through the Norwegian Sea, the carrier and her two escorts, the destroyers HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent, were intercepted by the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau armed with 11-inch guns. The carrier and her escorts were sunk in two hours, roughly 280 nautical miles (510 km) west of Harstad.””
Lots of interesting stuff in this week's issue.
This is what they knew about it yesterday.
From the minutes of a Jun 9th, 7 p.m. meeting of the War Cabinet.
The Chief of Naval Staff said that the Germans claimed to have sunk H.M.S. Glorious and one destroyer, also the S.S. Orama (an empty transport on passage from the Narvik area). An enemy battleship, two destroyers and a seaplane have been reported to be attacking a transport at 9 a.m., the 8th June, but this report had not been received at the Admiralty until the morning of 9th June. (This delay was believed to be due to the fact that the report had come from a hospital ship which was not entitled to use its wireless to send messages of the description.) No confirmation of the German claim had yet been received, although a corrupt wireless signal from Glorious referring to two pocket battleships had been picked up at 5:20 p.m. the 8th June. This message had referred to an earlier message (not received, timed 4:15 p.m.).Extensive air reconnaissances of the whole area were being carried out that afternoon, and the Chief of Naval Staff described the operations now on foot to intercept the German units which he believed to be the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisnau, and not the pocket battleships. He also outlined the dispositons in capital ships that had been made to escort the convoys returning from the Narvik area, to cover the coasts of Iceland and the British Isles, and to shadow the two ships reported off Iceland on the 5th June.
The Prime Minister said that if the German claim to have sunk the Glorious proved to be justified, it would be a grievous loss, which would involve a heavy loss of life; but it would not materially affect the balance of naval power.
Today, they are more certain that the carrier is likely sunk and the German report is true.
From the minutes of a Jun 10th, 12:30 p.m. meeting of the War Cabinet.
The Chief of the Naval Staff said that no further news had been received about the German claim to have sunk H.M.S. Glorious. He feared, however, that the report was almost certainly true. The Germans also claimed to have sunk one Destroyer and a "modern U-Boat Chaser." The reference to the latter was not understood. H.M.S. Glorious had been accompanied by two Destroyers, and it was possible the one of these had escaped. The uncertainty on this point was an argument in favour of awaiting confirmation before issuing any statement.In discussion it was pointed out that the Germans were broadcasting that they had sunk H.M.S. Glorious and that this claim was known throughout the Fleet. In these circumstances it was felt impossible to delay further the issue of the announcement, which should be on the lines that, in the absence of any further reports, it must be presumed that H.M.S. Glorious had been sunk. The announcement would also refer to the sinking of S.S. Orama, an empty transport.
I'll check the minutes again tomorrow to see if there is more information on the fate of the Glorious
EIAR Benito Mussolini declares war on France and England (English Translation)
Or for those who speak Italian, here's a more complete version of the speech without the English overlay.