HMS Glasgow (C21)

The seventh HMS "Glasgow" (21) was built on the Clyde, and was a "Southampton"-class light cruiser, a sub-class of the Town-class, commissioned in September 1937. She displaced 11,930 tons with a top speed of 32 knots (59 km/h). She was part of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, and escorted the King and Queen to Canada in 1939. She also took a large quantity of gold to Fort Knox as an emergency reserve.Fact|date=April 2007

Norwegian Campaign

Captain F. H. Pegram was commanding officer of "Glasgow" from July, 1939 to April, 1940. On the outbreak of war, she operated off the Scandinavian coast, and in November was off the coast of Norway with two destroyers in the hope of intercepting the German passenger ship SS "Bremen" which had sailed from Murmansk. This was unsuccessful, but on 12 February 1940, she captured the German trawler "Herrlichkeit" off Tromsø. [ [http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/miszellen/fischdampfer.htm German steam trawlers off Norway in 1940] de icon] On 9 April, she was attacked by Ju 88s and He 111s and was damaged by near misses off Bergen. On 11 April 1940, during the Allied campaign in Norway in World War II "Glasgow", along with HMS "Sheffield" and six Tribal class destroyers landed troops near Harstad, and three days later on 14 April, again in company with "Sheffield" and ten destroyers, landed an advance force of Royal Marines at Namsos to seize and secure the wharves and approaches to the town, preparatory to the landing of a larger Allied force. On the 23rd "Glasgow", "Sheffield", HMS "Galatea" and six destroyers landed the first part of the 15th Infantry Brigade in Åndalsnes.

Later in the campaign, on 29 April, she transferred King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav of Norway and part of the Norwegian gold reserves when they fled from Molde to Tromsø, escaping the advancing German forces in their country. [ [http://www.navynews.co.uk/articles/2003/0310/0003102902.asp Navy news] ]

The Mediterranean

Whilst operating in home waters after the withdrawal from Norway, "Glasgow" accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer HMS "Imogen" in thick fog off Duncansby Head on 16 July.

"Glasgow" was then employed as a convoy escort in the Mediterranean Sea and as a reinforcement of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron based at Alexandria. She took part in the Fleet Air Arm raid that crippled the Italian Fleet at Taranto, and on the 14 November "Glasgow", along with HMS "Berwick", HMAS "Sydney" and HMS "York", landed 3,400 troops from Alexandria in Piraeus. On the 26th, "Glasgow", HMS "Gloucester" and HMS "York" escorted a supply convoy from Alexandria to Malta. On 3 December "Glasgow" was attacked by Italian aircraft while anchored at Suda Bay, Crete. She was hit by two torpedoes and badly damaged. She was able to return to Alexandria, where temporary repairs were carried out. During this period she was temporarily replaced by HMS "Southampton".

The Far East

In January 1941 "Glasgow" was assigned to the Eastern Fleet and sailed for Singapore. Upon arrival she underwent more repairs. In February the German pocket battleship "Admiral Scheer" sank the freighters "Canadian Cruiser" and "Rantaupandjang" in the Indian Ocean. Both managed to transmit distress signals, that were picked up by "Glasgow", which deployed in search of the German ship. On 22 January, the "Admiral Scheer" was sighted by the spotter aircraft from "Glasgow", and the East Indies Task Force was deployed to the reported area. The "Admiral Scheer" had escaped however by turning away to the south east, and further searches were in vain. In March "Glasgow" in company with HMS "Caledon", two auxiliary cruisers, two destroyers and two anti submarine trawlers of the Indian navy, escorted two troop transport vessels containing two Indian Battalions and one Somali commando detachment, who were landed both sides of Berber, in Somaliland, which had previously been occupied by the Italians. The town was taken against only slight Italian resistance, which was soon broken by naval gunfire from "Glasgow" and the other escorts. At midnight on 9 December, 1941, "Glasgow" sank the RIN patrol vessel HMIS "Prabhavati" with two lighters in tow en route for Karachi, with 6 inch shells at 6000 yards. The "Prabhavati" was alongside the lighters and was mistaken for a large Japanese submarine on the surface. "Glasgow" picked up the survivors and took them to Bombay, arriving there later that day.

On 19 March 1942, "Glasgow" escorted convoy WS-16 from the U.K. to South Africa. In April "Glasgow" again underwent temporary repairs, this time in Simonstown, South Africa. She then sailed to the USA for permanent repairs, which were completed in August. She then returned to the U.K. and joined the 10th Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow, where she was assigned to the covering forces of the Arctic convoys.

In the Arctic and home waters

"Glasgow" escorted Arctic convoys between January and February 1943. In March she intercepted the German blockade runner "Regensburg" in the Denmark Strait. Her crew managed to scuttle the ship and "Glasgow" recovered six survivors. During June and July she supplied cover for escort groups in the Bay of Biscay. After this she joined the Plymouth Command.

In December she formed part of Operation Stonewall. and in late December, "Glasgow" and the cruiser "Enterprise" fought a three-hour battle with eleven enemy destroyers of which three were sunk and four damaged with gunfire. After this engagement Glasgow returned to Plymouth in spite of several air raids by glider bombs.

On 6 June 1944 "Glasgow" was part of Operation Neptune. Along with the battleships USS "Texas" and USS "Arkansas", the French cruisers "Montcalm", "Georges Leygues", nine U.S. destroyers and three Hunt-class destroyers, she made up the Gunfire Bombardment Support Force C for Omaha Beach. On the 25-26th of June, in support of the attack by the 7th US Corps on Cherbourg, she shelled the German batteries near Querqueville. During this exchange of fire "Glasgow" was hit and damaged. In August 1945 she set sail for the East Indies, where she was the flagship of the Commander in Chief.

Postwar

In 1948 "Glasgow" was transferred to the West Indies and was again the flagship of the fleet, returning to the UK in 1950. In 1951 she was the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet based at Malta under Admiral the Earl Mountbatten of Burma. In August 1954 "Glasgow" and HMS "Gambia" participated in the withdrawal of the Royal Marine Commandos. In 1955 "Glasgow" returned to the U.K. where she rejoined the Home Fleet as Flag Officer D, but was later paid off. The Suez crisis in 1956 caused "Glasgow" to be temporarily recommissioned, but later that year was paid off again. It was then decided that she was surplus to requirements and was placed on the disposal list in November 1956. In July 1958 "Glasgow" was broken up at Blyth by Hughes Bolckow.

References

*Colledge
*cite book|last=Chesneau|first=Roger (ed.)|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946|year=1980|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|id=ISBN 0-85177-146-7
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/1229.html HMS Glasgow at Uboat.net]
* [http://www.world-war.co.uk/index.php3 HMS Glasgow - WWII cruisers]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/08/a8653908.shtml BBC.co.uk]