HMS Glowworm 1940
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Glowworm | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1940 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | destroyer | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Collision | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | Operation Weserübung | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Norwegian Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Position | 64.4500, 6.4667 | Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Glowworm was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War the ship spent part of 1936 and 1937 in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Glowworm was transferred to the British Isles from the Mediterranean Fleet shortly after the beginning of the Second World War, to escort shipping in local waters.
In March 1940, she was transferred to the Home Fleet and participated in the opening stages of the Norwegian campaign. On 8 April 1940 Glowworm encountered German destroyers transporting troops to invade Norway in Operation Weserübung. The German destroyers tried to disengage and called for help from the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. In the battle, Glowworm, severely damaged, rammed Admiral Hipper, losing its bow and sinking shortly afterwards.
Kapitän zur See (Captain) Hellmuth Heye, the commander of Admiral Hipper, recommended that the captain of Glowworm, Gerard Roope, be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. There were only two other occasions when a VC was awarded at the recommendation of the opponent in the Second World War.
Location
- Recorded position: 64.4500, 6.4667 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Norwegian Sea
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Glowworm (H92) (revision 1375234174), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-990 1944 · 85 km
- U-476 1944 · 107 km
- HMS Sceptre 200 km
Other wrecks of the Operation Weserübung
- Blücher 1940
- German cruiser Karlsruhe 1940
- German submarine U-64 1940
- HMS Hardy 1940
- HMS Hunter 1940
- Scharnhorst 1943
- HMS Penelope 1944
- U-29 1945
- U-30 1945
- U-48 1945
All 11 wrecks of the Operation Weserübung →
Browse more: Open ocean wrecks · Norwegian Sea · Second World War