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.
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.
@@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...
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.
@@jackster2568Come on. Who cares about the polish? Xenophobic at its best, always trying to play the victim card, oppressing all non roman-cathlics for centuries and act like the Hamas of Europe . You lost, get over it.
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.
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.
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
@@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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
@@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
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.
@@PRC533Very few German sailors would survive the Scharnhorst’s own sinking later in the war. Thousands went into the icy, storm-battered waters of the Arctic but only a handful were recovered.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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
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
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.
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!
@tomriley5790 indeed. It's not possible to tell which shot further based on the information available, but Scharnhorst achieved it first, which has its own charm, I suppose, before the Grand Old Lady equalled the feat.
Thank you for covering this story. The sinking of the Glorious, the Acasta and the Ardent is one of the more shameful episodes in the long and sordid history of British military disasters. The heroism of their crews deserved so much better.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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).
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.
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.
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.
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).
Naval combat is the greatest team sport of all-time. Not one single naval battle or scenario isn't harrowing and legendary-- These men have balls of steel!
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
A few years later, another battleship vs destroyer + carrier battle. With the help of aircrafts (although not armed for attacking surface targets), the carrier side managed to deal enough blow before getting knocked out, forcing battleship commander to retreat.
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?
Just noticed at 2:39 the second ship, which is marked as Gneisenau, has two forward facing turrets, aswell as two aft facing turrets. Can someone explain or is this a mistake, meaning its not actually Gneisenau?
I think it is a editing error, as it was Scharnhorst and Gneisenau that were there to sink Glorious. (edit) Didn't actually watch the video, and so assumed the cause of the error
Tru that. By the Funnel which seems to be about a half as closer to the tower is seems to be actually Admiral Hipper. I guess another take on why those 2 were called "pocket" battleships
@@horrigan495First of all, Hipper was a heavy cruiser. Second, Scharnhorst & Gneisenau were never considered “pocket battleships.” You’re thinking of the Deutschlands, which the the Germans also described as heavy cruisers. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were sometimes referred to as battlecruisers but they both displaced well over 30k tons & had armor comparable to, or better than, most battleships. Their main battery of 9 283 mm guns was very light for a WWII battleship & there were plans to replace then with 6 380 mm guns-Gneisenau was partially refitted before she was knocked out of the war, but they were definitely battleships. The only two German ships in this engagement were Scharnhorst & Gneisenau.
Becuase the Captain wanted to. What a travesty :( I would love a video on how these massive guns fire on the move and over the waves... just watched the end Scharnhorst last night and the technology back then was amazing.
That despicable that the captains of Ardent and Anastasia didn’t get Victoria Crosses. Especially given what the Captain of Glorworm did and what the men of Taffy 3 would do a few years later.
It always fascinates me how aggressive destroyer captains and their crew can be, and how much had this paid off. No idea if this quote has its origins in English, but the motto of a certain naval academy I know of is that "steel in the men is more important than steel in the ships" - and these men have shown exactly that (Sadly the leadership of that navy don't exactly live by this...)
Leading Hand Cyril "Nick" Carter... guy nearly gets blown up after all his crew gets killed and dismembered (HE and AP shells can do nightmarish things to humans), wakes up and takes stock of the situation. Then, he aims the torpedo launcher and gets a spread off...... scoring a hit. "I say, Bloody good show, chaps! And, did I panic, I think Noooot!"
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.
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
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
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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 TH-camrs 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.
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.
@@ERAA-on-YT Yes the gallant Luftwaffe strafing columns of Polish refugees.
@@jackster2568Come on. Who cares about the polish? Xenophobic at its best, always trying to play the victim card, oppressing all non roman-cathlics for centuries and act like the Hamas of Europe . You lost, get over it.
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
As someone of the younger generation I’d like to thank you for your service to our country Rob! Some of us do appreciate it still
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
WW2 is just full of naval stories that are inspiring and heartbreaking of all these little destroyers taking the gloves off against impossible odds.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@PRC533Very few German sailors would survive the Scharnhorst’s own sinking later in the war. Thousands went into the icy, storm-battered waters of the Arctic but only a handful were recovered.
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.
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.
different breed of incompetent. lost 2 destroyers and accomplished nothing. good job wasting lives. no wonder these pathetic failures got nothing.
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
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 :-)!
Complacency. That's the word that kept coming across my mind the entire time leading up to the engagement.
No search planes from carrier. You’d think the U boat threat alone would justify quite an aerial scout effort.
I genuinely teared up when I saw the courage these little ships displayed. its criminal they didn't get the recognition they deserved.
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)
8:51 I can’t help but think that would kinda make for a epic painting. Depicting this moment.
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.
All three HMS Ardents of the 20th Century were lost in action . Sobbering thought .
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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.
@tomriley5790 indeed. It's not possible to tell which shot further based on the information available, but Scharnhorst achieved it first, which has its own charm, I suppose, before the Grand Old Lady equalled the feat.
Destroyer Skippers of WWII were a special breed of brave. Great video.
Thank you for covering this story. The sinking of the Glorious, the Acasta and the Ardent is one of the more shameful episodes in the long and sordid history of British military disasters. The heroism of their crews deserved so much better.
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.
The first few years of the war could be summarized as
“the Allies underestimated their opponents”
Very cool, thank you for helping me with my History projects 👍🏻👍🏻
I appreciate the effort put into the editing.
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!
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.
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 think the Captain of HMS Glowworm was awarded the VC on the recommendation of the German Captain of the Admiral Hipper.
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.
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.
Thank you for showing more about this, especially what was happening on the Glorious.
Love the new naval artillery animation.
There is a plaque in Troon Old Parish Church in Scotland remembering a lost parishioner on HMS Acosta.
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.
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.
This naval engagement was captured in perfect detail on the cameras. I hope Yarnhub talks about this battle soon. They're the best at History.
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.
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
Thanks you for the amazing vids!! Naval battles are my absolute favorite and you have the best videos about them.
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.
Thank you for a great video. :D Brilliant. I hope to see more royal navy videos.
Absolutely stunning bravery
Acasta and Ardent were like we go down you coming with us. Respect
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.
Congratulations on the much improved visuals.
HMS glorious, the carrier with the most inglorious final action.
Not even a Lookout on Duty. Brilliant! Where did they think they were? On an Island Cruise?
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.
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.
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).
another great video highlighting the insane sacrifice and bravery of ww2 destroyer crews
Naval combat is the greatest team sport of all-time. Not one single naval battle or scenario isn't harrowing and legendary-- These men have balls of steel!
Always hearing stories of the underdog ships being so cool. Respect to the men on those destroyers, not that they really had a choice.
Always so exited when I see a new historigraph video, and I was not disappointed!
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
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.
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?
What at terrific video and looking glorious in 4k! 👏
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.
I just read the recall of the battle from the only survivor of the HMS Ardent. What absolutely brutal and sad Story...
This is the first video I watch and I feel I obsessed with this channel 😭
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.
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.
I can't wait to eventually see you make this in 3D. I await patiently😂
A few years later, another battleship vs destroyer + carrier battle. With the help of aircrafts (although not armed for attacking surface targets), the carrier side managed to deal enough blow before getting knocked out, forcing battleship commander to retreat.
Fantastic documentary as usual!
It’s insane they scored a hit from that distance
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?
Another terrific Historigraph video. Love this channel.
Those sailors wil never be forgotten
Fantastic content. Thank you.
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 !!!
One thing you can say about the Royal Navy, even when outgunned and outnumbered, they were aggressive and willing to put up a fight.
Just noticed at 2:39 the second ship, which is marked as Gneisenau, has two forward facing turrets, aswell as two aft facing turrets. Can someone explain or is this a mistake, meaning its not actually Gneisenau?
Very good catch. Based on the silhouette of the turrets, funnel and antenna I would say it is a Admiral Hipper Class ship.
I think it is a editing error, as it was Scharnhorst and Gneisenau that were there to sink Glorious.
(edit) Didn't actually watch the video, and so assumed the cause of the error
Tru that. By the Funnel which seems to be about a half as closer to the tower is seems to be actually Admiral Hipper. I guess another take on why those 2 were called "pocket" battleships
@@horrigan495First of all, Hipper was a heavy cruiser. Second, Scharnhorst & Gneisenau were never considered “pocket battleships.” You’re thinking of the Deutschlands, which the the Germans also described as heavy cruisers. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were sometimes referred to as battlecruisers but they both displaced well over 30k tons & had armor comparable to, or better than, most battleships. Their main battery of 9 283 mm guns was very light for a WWII battleship & there were plans to replace then with 6 380 mm guns-Gneisenau was partially refitted before she was knocked out of the war, but they were definitely battleships.
The only two German ships in this engagement were Scharnhorst & Gneisenau.
It’s Gneisenau. Historiograph made a mistake with his animation.
Fantastic video as always
Destroyer captains are just a different breed
That was very cool and really moving.
Becuase the Captain wanted to. What a travesty :( I would love a video on how these massive guns fire on the move and over the waves... just watched the end Scharnhorst last night and the technology back then was amazing.
That despicable that the captains of Ardent and Anastasia didn’t get Victoria Crosses. Especially given what the Captain of Glorworm did and what the men of Taffy 3 would do a few years later.
Absolutely smashing lads. Cheers
Ardent and Acasta pulled a real Leroy Jenkins there. Respect.
Small pedantic nit: the ship in the foreground at 2:41 is Gneisenau, which, for reasons I do not know, had it's mainmast stepped off the funnel.
It always fascinates me how aggressive destroyer captains and their crew can be, and how much had this paid off.
No idea if this quote has its origins in English, but the motto of a certain naval academy I know of is that "steel in the men is more important than steel in the ships" - and these men have shown exactly that
(Sadly the leadership of that navy don't exactly live by this...)
Leading Hand Cyril "Nick" Carter... guy nearly gets blown up after all his crew gets killed and dismembered (HE and AP shells can do nightmarish things to humans), wakes up and takes stock of the situation. Then, he aims the torpedo launcher and gets a spread off...... scoring a hit.
"I say, Bloody good show, chaps! And, did I panic, I think Noooot!"
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.
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
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