hms glorious operation paul

There was a lookout, admittedly, had the lookout been at the highest point of the mast, Glorious might have sighted the enemy sooner. What is interesting about his letter is he can’t even bring himself to name Glorious and instead refers to a “certain ship”. Admiral Godfrey dryly recalled that when Mr Churchill became their chief they found that. Two men and two aircraft were lost during the operation, they ran out of engine oil on the way home, crashing into the sea, but it was enough to convince Churchill and Dudley Pound that Operation Paul was viable. He has conducted research which uncovers evidence linking Glorious to Churchill’s Operation Paul. They concluded the awards could not be made due to the lack of eye-witness accounts from senior British officers, all killed in the action. He didn't know much about aircraft carriers and their operation, and probably should not have held Glorious' command. D’Oyly-Hughes and Heath did not get on. He didn’t, he did what he was told to do. I myself joined the Joint Planning staff just as it was beginning and believe me, it was Bedlam. In this way she made the task of our guns very difficult”. A clue to his thinking may lie in a letter Dudley Pound wrote, a few days before the outbreak of war, in September1939 and his thoughts, then, on how long HMS Glorious might survive; When we attack Italy itself….then I think there is a great deal to be said for making an attack by air on the Italian fleet at Taranto. On the 7th June 1940 Dudley Pound again wrote to Churchill: Ark Royal* will embark mines and refuel as soon as she reaches (Scapa crossed out) the Clyde after the evacuation (Of Norway) is complete and then carry out Paul at once in the modified form. Nothing about the official account quite adds up. Churchill was clearly very angry at having been caught out by the Germans and worried about the possible repercussions the loss of Glorious would bring and questions that would be asked. Was the enemy report Devonshire received from Glorious really garbled? On the 8th November 1940 the day after the debate in the commons, Biddy Glasfurd, the widow of Charles Glasfurd, Acasta’s captain, wrote to Commander Bower MP for help, having been denied access to the only survivor from her husband’s ship by the Admiralty ; My husband, Commander CE Glasfurd, was in command of HMS Acasta, which as you know, was one of the destroyers that went down with the “Glorious”. There is also an very interesting account of the battle, which is a little difficult to locate, but possible by searching in German , Versenkung HMS Glorious. John Winton, author of “Carrier Glorious” and unaware of Operation Paul, wrote in his book; It seemed that D’Oyly-Hughes had a pressing reason for impatience and was eager to return to Scapa Flow. VAA stands for Vice Admiral Air and refers to Vice Admiral Lionel “Nutty” Wells, D’Oyly-Hughes’ boss, and the man who, one month later, would give the order for Glorious, Ardent & Acasta to leave the safety of the convoy on the 8th June 1940. One month later, 18 would become a highly significant number for Churchill, First Sea Lord Dudley Pound and Vice Admiral Lionel Wells. Or had ground crews already begun stripping them to begin the substantial job of fitting extra fuel tanks needed for Operation Paul? D’Oyly-Hughes kept a loaded revolver on the bridge of the ship for “Any man who failed in his duty” and a pet Chihuahua and yellow Canary in his cabin. The operation should begin just before the end of the evacuation from Narvik. The three British warships were taking part in Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Norway that had been taking place simultaneously with the rather better known and remembered evacuation at Dunkirk. In October 1939, HMS Glorious was part of Force I, supported by the battleship HMS Malaya she patrolled the Gulf of Aden in search of German merchant ships and the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. D’Oyly-Hughes puts Heath ashore, under house arrest, pending court martial for cowardice in the face of the enemy. Was D’Oyly-Hughes playing a psychological game with names and codes? The destroyer Ardent was dispatched by Glorious to investigate. All should have kept together. They considered the VC’s again after the war, when German Naval Intelligence (B-Dienst) reports emerged detailing the outstanding bravery of the two destroyers in trying to protect Glorious from the two battlecruisers. The Glorious had previously taken the RAF Hurricanes out to Norway, so they had flown off a carrier before. The Admiralty refused to give me the address of the survivor, but after a great deal of trouble I found him by myself. In these circumstances it was felt impossible to delay further the issue of an announcement, which should be on the lines that, in the absence of any further reports, it must be presumed that H.M.S. Whinging Tinny's links both go to GLARAC so here is this one. In fact Glorious and the RAF did well here, and the carrier was not really able to escape the attention of one of the most powerful German ships afloat. The only report Wells ever appears to have written (ADM 199/479 M010801/40) only confirms which radio frequencies Glorious, Ark Royal and the other ships in the convoy had been using. With the help of strategist and minelaying expert, Admiral Reggie Drax, he came up with Operation Catherine, named after Catherine the Great of Russia. Their coming together brings to mind a very familiar fictional triumvirate: Drax, Ian Fleming’s friend, whom he named his Moonraker Bond villain Hugo Drax after, was the “Q” type figure, full of ideas for new and different tactics/weapons/machines, some which had yet to be invented. In other words, Cork was saying, if you’re looking for someone to blame don’t blame me. It’s not overstating it to say; if ever there was a man with the courage and determination to take on Churchill’s Operation Paul, it was Guy D’Oyly-Hughes. Despite the Admiralty naming Ark Royal in their signal as the designated carrier for Operation Paul Wells knew what he needed to protect the troop convoy and what he could make available. Sub-Lieutenant McLachlan, a survivor from Glorious, told the Board of Enquiry. Despite managing to range five Swordfish on the flight deck of Glorious, the aircraft never took off. Churchill, on the other hand, was focused on the bigger picture. Wells had two aircraft carriers at his disposal. She was only carrying 9 Gladiators and six Swordfish on her way back to Norway on 2nd June as space had to be left for the aircraft being recovered - that's not a strike force of any size. Engineers at Farnborough said it couldn’t be done because the flight decks of both Glorious & Ark Royal weren’t long enough. All ships, including Glorious, therefore primarily expected enemy attack to come from the air or from submarines. On page 165 of his book “Carrier Glorious” John Winton refers to events on board Glorious on the 8th June; “Everyone being out on their feet after the exertions of the past few days” but there were Squadron meetings on board Glorious at 9am on the 8th June. Confirmation of this by the Ministry of Defence is long overdue, but let’s be optimistic and live in hope the Naval Historical Branch (Keepers of the Royal Navy’s historical archive) might break with the tradition of secrecy and actually tell us what happened by releasing Admiral Well’s report. Thereafter the carriers can go to America to pick up aeroplanes. ( ii) Following squadrons will be available – 800, 803,810 820, all already embarked. Was the Board of Enquiry warned off and told they could not interview him? Summoned to the conference from his ship berthed on the Clyde in Scotland was Captain Guy D’Oyly-Hughes DSO & Bar, DSC, the commanding officer of HMS Glorious, a dashing maverick and highly decorated war hero, best friend to Admiral Reggie Drax, Churchill’s Operation Paul planning partner and godfather to Drax’s eldest son, Walter. It was never discussed at War Cabinet level again. Glorious was also a twenty three year old ship, Ark Royal was brand new having only been in service for eighteen months. After some discussion in Devonshire between the Admiral, King and Captain, she chose the latter. A three man joint service planning team for Operation Paul came together in Whitehall; Captain Charles Daniel (Royal Navy), Major General Ian Playfair (Army), Air Commodore John “Jack” Slessor (Royal Air Force). The Admiral who ordered the three ships home was not interviewed nor is his RoP (Report of proceedings) anywhere to be found. Without the benefit of Wells’ evidence, the board of enquiry reached four major conclusions: (a.) Swordfish were ranged on the flying off deck. The plan was to send old but heavily modified battleships into the Baltic to wreak havoc and sink ore carriers. What better way (Having made an example of Heath) to put down a marker to the rest of his ship’s company was there than the threat of court martial? The minutes record: A preparatory order to carry out the operation had already been issued to C-in-C Home Fleet (Admiralty signal 0043/8). Many years later, Admiral Sir William Davis would write: “D’Oyly Hughes was known to be a very difficult headstrong chap. I have a vague memory that the overcrowding caused by the presence of the RAF aircraft made deck operations highly problematic. The VC recommendations were turned down. One pilot noticed warheads being removed from torpedoes and other armaments being struck down or stowed away. Bridget, Guy D’Oyly-Hughes’ daughter, remembers the day well. Message 3 - HMS Glorious Posted on: 25 November 2003 by paul gill - WW2 Site Helper. Swordfish flying above the clouds - Courtesy of Brian Reeves. Their targets were allied shipping in the Harstad area of Northern Norway. He added it is normal procedure to give prior notice of the intention to mine an area. Glorious’ signal: On 8th May, the day after the conference, Glorious signaled the Admiralty confirming she had 12 sets of long range fuel tanks onboard and a further 6 of her aircraft from 823 Squadron, based in the Orkneys, would be fitted with the tanks. Devonshire, the King of Norway and his entourage made it safely to the UK arriving in Glasgow on the morning of the 9th June 1940. The board also pointed to one external aspect; The apparent lack any surface cover to protect the ship from the attack which she met. Meanwhile, off the Norwegian coast in HMS Glorious, during the night of 26th and the following day, 27th May 1940, Captain Guy D’Oyly-Hughes and his Commander Flying JB Heath had a major fall-out over what D’Oyly-Hughes must have seen as a dry run for Operation Paul and Heath’s view that the attack he was being asked to mount was an unsuitable use of naval aircraft. Why? The more likely explanation is the aircrews had begun preparing the aircraft to carry the mines and long range fuel tanks for Operation Paul, itself a 24-36 hour job per aircraft. If all three of these ships had behaved in a cowardly manner, then one could understand the present attitude of the Admiralty, and this I am afraid is what the average person must think. His previous report relating to operations from April 1940 to the beginning of May 1940 runs to 100 pages and he hadn’t lost, 1,519 men, a carrier and two destroyers then. 60 Swordfish would reduce to 18. A few weeks earlier Glorious had delivered the Hurricanes of RAF 46 Squadron to their base in Norway. The War Cabinet met again on the 10th June1940 by which time news of Glorious was not good; Churchill spoke of a "grievous loss" and "consideration was given to the question whether a certain operation (Paul) should be carried out". Many have concluded he was a loose cannon who did as he pleased and to hell with the consequences. Bower was in a unique position, as a sitting MP but also a serving naval intelligence officer with access to highly sensitive, confidential information. Squadron Leader Kenneth “Bing” Cross – C/O of 46 Squadron - RAF. After the third glass of vintage port, he would say “Good port this, we’ll make a first-rate plan on this”. At the War Cabinet meeting on 5th June 1940, First Sea Lord, Sir Dudley Pound reported to Churchill on the progress of Operation Paul; “Sixty Swordfish have been fitted with extra tanks – The extra tanks gave an endurance of 600 miles or more”. The PM was in an impatient frame of mind. Ship was working directly under VAA (Vice Admiral Air Lionel Wells) and received her orders from him. I am afraid it will be felt that the Navy has bungled this and certainly the Germans have had a remarkable success. (Operation ALPHABET) ... 1938-1940 MOVEMENTS of HMS GLORIOUS. The Admiralty settled on the explanation that is still given out today: Glorious left the safety of the convoy because she was an old ship and short of fuel. Quite the opposite, he says Glorious received her “orders” from Wells. What happened to the “very severe scrutiny” Churchill had suggested? Roskill believed a disagreement between D’Oyly-Hughes and his senior flying officers led to him requesting permission to return home ahead of the convoy, not because of a shortage of fuel, but in order to court-marshal an officer he’d put ashore, under house arrest, in the Orkneys for cowardice in the face of the enemy. Aircraft, launched from carriers sitting off the north Norwegian coast, would fly across the Scandinavian peninsula to lay mines, blocking ore exports from the neutral Swedish Baltic port of Lulea. Acasta’s torpedo damage to Scharnhorst – the hole measured 14x6 meters. This time, just 24hrs after he had said “Sixty aircraft have been fitted with extra tanks”, Pound’s reply to Churchill is a little more realistic: I am of the opinion however that the operation should now be confined to mining the channels where a “block” will occur if a ship is mined there. An hour and half later the battle was over, Glorious, Ardent and Acasta had all been sunk, 600 men were dead and 900 men were adrift in life rafts, only 41 would survive. D’Oyly-Hughes, it appears, was acting no differently to the captain of Ark Royal, had he been in the same situation. I understood from the First Sea Lord that the operation would be carried out at once. Robin Broadhurst’s biography of Pound is titled “Churchill’s Anchor”. If attacks resulted in sinking of neutral shipping, we should express our regrets in suitable terms. HMS Glorious immediately left the protection of the convoy because Wells chose and ordered her to carry out Operation Paul. 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