HMS Glowworm rammed the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper in 1940 — earning her captain a posthumous Victoria Cross and tearing 40 metres from Hipper's armour belt.
Operation Wilfred, Norway 1940: how one outgunned G-class destroyer changed the Royal Navy's understanding of the entire Norwegian campaign.
On 8 April 1940, HMS Glowworm (H92), a 1,350-ton G-class destroyer commanded by Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope, found herself alone off the Norwegian coast and directly in the path of the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper — a 14,000-ton warship armed with eight-inch guns. Separated from the destroyer screen supporting Operation Wilfred, Glowworm closed on Hipper, fired her torpedoes, and when those failed to find their mark, Roope drove his ship bow-first into the cruiser's starboard side. The collision tore away approximately 40 metres of Hipper's armour belt and forced the German cruiser into Trondheim for repairs. Roope was lost when Glowworm sank, but his actions were recognised through the extraordinary testimony of Hipper's own commanding officer — making his posthumous Victoria Cross one of the rarest in the history of the Royal Navy.
⏱️ Chapters
0:00 — Introduction: A Small Ship in a Large Ocean
1:21 — Why Norway Mattered: The Strategic Picture
3:10 — The Admiral Hipper: Outgunned on Paper
4:06 — Roope's Decision: Torpedoes and the Ram
6:32 — The Action in Detail: Contact to Sinking
8:29 — Legacy and the Victoria Cross
???? Sources & further reading:
- Imperial War Museum: HMS Glowworm and the Norway Campaign collections (iwm.org.uk)
- Wikipedia: HMS Glowworm (H92)
- Naval History and Heritage Command: Norwegian Campaign 1940 (history.navy.mil)
???? Subscribe to British Naval Historian for Royal Navy history done properly.
#RoyalNavy #NavalHistory #WW2 #HMSGlowworm #AdmiralHipper #VictoriaCross #NorwegianCampaign #MilitaryHistory #BritishNavy #Documentary
Operation Wilfred, Norway 1940: how one outgunned G-class destroyer changed the Royal Navy's understanding of the entire Norwegian campaign.
On 8 April 1940, HMS Glowworm (H92), a 1,350-ton G-class destroyer commanded by Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope, found herself alone off the Norwegian coast and directly in the path of the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper — a 14,000-ton warship armed with eight-inch guns. Separated from the destroyer screen supporting Operation Wilfred, Glowworm closed on Hipper, fired her torpedoes, and when those failed to find their mark, Roope drove his ship bow-first into the cruiser's starboard side. The collision tore away approximately 40 metres of Hipper's armour belt and forced the German cruiser into Trondheim for repairs. Roope was lost when Glowworm sank, but his actions were recognised through the extraordinary testimony of Hipper's own commanding officer — making his posthumous Victoria Cross one of the rarest in the history of the Royal Navy.
⏱️ Chapters
0:00 — Introduction: A Small Ship in a Large Ocean
1:21 — Why Norway Mattered: The Strategic Picture
3:10 — The Admiral Hipper: Outgunned on Paper
4:06 — Roope's Decision: Torpedoes and the Ram
6:32 — The Action in Detail: Contact to Sinking
8:29 — Legacy and the Victoria Cross
???? Sources & further reading:
- Imperial War Museum: HMS Glowworm and the Norway Campaign collections (iwm.org.uk)
- Wikipedia: HMS Glowworm (H92)
- Naval History and Heritage Command: Norwegian Campaign 1940 (history.navy.mil)
???? Subscribe to British Naval Historian for Royal Navy history done properly.
#RoyalNavy #NavalHistory #WW2 #HMSGlowworm #AdmiralHipper #VictoriaCross #NorwegianCampaign #MilitaryHistory #BritishNavy #Documentary
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