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Carrier Glorious: The Life and Death of an Aircraft Carrier (Warship Battles of World War Two) Kindle Edition

by John Winton (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 253 ratings
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The engrossing but tragic history of the Royal Navy’s worst loss of World War Two.

Ideal for readers of Jonathan Dimbleby, Max Hastings and Craig L. Symonds.

On 8th June 1940, the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two destroyer escorts HMS Ardent and Acasta were sighted by the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst and her sister ship Gneisenau. In a brutal gun battle that lasted over an hour all British ships were sunk and more than 1500 men lost their lives.

Why had Glorious left the main troop convoy to proceed independently? Why was she so lightly protected? Why did British Intelligence give no warning that the German battlecruisers were close by? And why were the survivors left in freezing Arctic waters for three days before being picked up?

Official documents do not answer these questions and so John Winton has drawn testimonies from men who served on Glorious in the pre-war days as well as her very few survivors to understand how this ship functioned both before and during the war, what happened on that fateful day and why is there still so much secrecy surrounding this heart-rending event.

“Winton paints the best and most complete picture of any carrier of any navy” Naval War College Review

Carrier Glorious: The Life and Death of an Aircraft Carrier is an extraordinary history of this ship from her early beginnings as a battle cruiser in the First World War to her conversion into an aircraft carrier and service through the interwar years before uncovering what truly went on in her battle with the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
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    Warship Battles of World War Two
  2. Print length
    420 pages
  3. Language
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  5. Publication date
    March 6, 2022
  6. File size
    1705 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

An Oxford University and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduate, Alex Wyndham has voiced everything from Apple iPad campaigns to fertilizer instructions. He's also starred in several BBC and HBO shows, including the Emmy Award-winning Little Dorrit and Rome, and in various films. In its review of his narration of The Strangler Vine, the Washington Post described him as "brilliant at summoning up the personalities in this exotic, exciting tale." Romantic Historical Reviews writes that he is a "wonderful narrator" and "has an ability to get to the emotional heart of both story and characters."

John Winton joined the Royal Navy in 1949 as a cadet and retired in 1963 as a Lieutenant-Commander. He is widely known as a novelist and historian of the sea. His books include the novels A Drowning War and Aircraft Carrier, and works of non-fiction such as Find, Fix and Strike: The Fleet Air Arm at War 1939-45, War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, Air Power at Sea 1939-1945, The Death of the 'Scharnhorst', Ultra at Sea, and Ultra in the Pacific. He died in 2001.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09N3R961H
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sapere Books (March 6, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 6, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1705 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 420 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1800554176
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 253 ratings

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John Winton

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
253 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Arnold Frank
5.0 out of 5 stars Fleet Air Arm History
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2023
Verified Purchase
Although I have read a lot of military history, this is my first research into the sinking of HMS Glorious. It is first a very interesting history of the ship Glorious. It also has a lot of very interesting facts and anecdotes regarding the Fleet Air Arm during the period before the start of the WWII.

The final destruction of the Aircraft Carrier, by battleships, is compellingly detailed.

The book details the search for the reason, or reasons leading to the ship being lost, perhaps unnecessarily.

It seems their was no Combat Air Patrol flying the whole time as cover during the return trip to Scotland. With no flights there is not air assets to act as long range recon for enemy battleships. It appears the ship was not on alert to launch aircraft at a short notice if necessary to defend. It seems there was friction between the Captain and some of his senior officers. Both sides are provided, but in my reading the book comes down harder on the Captain’s character and conduct.

There is also some discussion on if the ship should be traveling on its own, away from the main bulk of the fleet with so few surface escorts.

All-in-all, the author seems fair in providing some possibilities and insights into to these factors and they are provided tactfully. (Hindsight is 20/20 after all.)

There is a good section on the survivors horrible ordeal during the aftermath of the sinking.

The parliamentary debate regarding the loss is outlined. There are listed compelling questions by MP Stokes, then a critic of the government.

It is a good book as it spurs me to research further into the matter. I have to highly recommend this book.
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Justin Choi
4.0 out of 5 stars Inglorious end
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2022
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John Winton painted a very vivid picture of the operational history of the HMS Glorious. Whose fault was never answered. I would have loved to see more pictures of the men and the ship.
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Bored Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening Recount of Naval Leadership Failure
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2022
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An average recount of an untold and unnecessary loss of three naval ships along with their dedicated crews. Will look for other accounts and hope to find the British leadership did ultimately assign fault where it belongs. Greed, lack of humanity, and leadership failures led to the demise of the British empire. Incredible losses of thousands of brave soldiers in Africa and the Middle East were set-up by old officers with private agendas. Incredible to learn the aircraft carrier Glorious was lost in the North Sea within reach of German cruisers, with her aircraft stored, unarmed, and no scouts were airborne. Even more incredible that a thousand men abandoned ship and slowly lost their lives in poorly outfitted rafts due to British naval failure to acknowledge the battle or to search for the losts ships. This book did provide a reason to uncover additional details.
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steinar ysland jensen
5.0 out of 5 stars A tragedy which could have been avoided on many occasions
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2019
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The reason I bought this book is because I saw a documentary about this naval tragedy on You tube, and caught my attention.

Some of the most interesting things I found is about the captains relations with the men and officers onboard the Glorious. When he came onboard he was well liked by the lower ranks, but at the time of the sinking even that relation had fallen quite low.
Some of the comments on the You Tube video stated that the Glorious could not launch her own scout planes because she had just taken on the 10 Hurricanes flown in from Bardufoss air station in Norway.

After going through the book, I found that this was not the case. When the Hurricanes were shipped from Scotland to Norway on the carrier in May, they found that by removing some of the locking bolts they could detach the wings, which allowed for easier storage down below deck. And with some effort the Hurricanes also managed to take off from the carrier under their own power.
When they landed back on the carrier again in early June, they were again taken and stored below deck, leaving one Swordfish and three Sea Gladiators on the flight deck at ten minutes standby. Meaning, it would take ten minutes to get them ranged and ready to fly.
Some of commentators on the You Tube video claimed that the Hurricanes were left on the upper deck after they landed, but squadron leader Ken Cross's eyewitness account contradicts that.
This tragedy, which was fully avoidable, was cause by a series of grave mistakes, like the Admiralty's refusal to belive the intel provided by those stationed at Bletchley Park, like Harry Hinsley. That, along with captain D'Oyly-Hughes refusal to allow flying on the way back home, ended up causing the death of 1519 men.
To me, the book also contained a lot of details about the carriers efforts in the Norwegian campaign, their repeated trials and failures due to bad planning, along with the loss of bad planes flown by some very good men, how the relations between the captain and the air staff onboard the Glorious slowly, but steadily deteriorated up to the moment before they were spotted by the german battle cruisers, along with Acasta's and Ardent's attempts to save the carrier. And finally, the survivors three days ordeal in the water and the subsequent aftermath of this disaster.

To me, it's quite clear that the whole incident, which has always been such a huge embarrassment for the Admiralty, has been covered up, to a great extent If you read this book, or watch the documentary on You Tube, at the end, I guarantee, that you will find the official version very hard to belive.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Empe
5.0 out of 5 stars Storia navale
Reviewed in Italy on September 28, 2022
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Gli appassionati, al prezzo di mezzo caffè possono leggere questa versione kindle di un volume dedicato alla storia di una delle prime portaerei britanniche, convertita con le due gemelle dallo scafo di incrociatori da battaglia che visto l'andamento della Prima Guerra Mondiale non servivano più. Invece con grande lungimiranza gli inglesi formarono un primo nucleo di navi portaerei "dedicate" partendo da uno scafo militare e non riadattando navi civili o delle porta idrovolanti. La storia racconta la genesi e la vita della nave fino al suo affondamento durante la II Guerra Mondiale in uno sciagurato scontro con le "corazzate" tedesche Scharnorst e Gneisenau che la sorpresero senza protezione se non quella offerta da due piccoli cacciatorpediniere che finirono pure sul fondo, con pochissimi superstiti tra i relativi equipaggi, con l'unica consolazione di aver danneggiato la Scharnorst con un siluro e a colpi di cannone, al punto di costringere i tedeschi a rientrare in porto, salvando da possibile distruzione il convoglio che evacuava il personale alleato dalla Norvegia.
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Robert
5.0 out of 5 stars So much about this incident that I never knew about.
Reviewed in Australia on May 19, 2022
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What a lot of research and putting together it must have taken to produce this amazing of this disaster and theTo the author many thanks for a . severe hardship that followed. What a debt we owe to those who sacrificed so much.
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Warspite
5.0 out of 5 stars A story sad and frustrating in equal measure......
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2012
Verified Purchase
I recently wanted to find out more about British carrier operations in WWII and the years that led to war. Although I have never had much interest in HMS Glorious (or her equally ill-fated sister ship Courageous) when I happened by chance upon this book, I thought it might be ideal for that purpose. I had read one John Winton book previously (the excellent Forgotten Fleet) and so knew I was not taking a chance on the book not being well researched or not being easy to read.

Sure enough this book proved unputdownable (if there is such a word). The author takes the reader through the entire life of HMS Glorious, from her beginnings as a light battlecruiser (she served in the last years of the First World War) through to her ultimate guise - a Royal Navy fleet carrier. Relatively fast, and with a capacity of 48 aircraft, she and Courageous should have been important carriers for the RN during the war (imagine the outcome of the raid on Taranto if a much larger airstrike could have been mounted) but sadly neither ship lasted beyond the first 9 months of WWII.

The sad part of the story is her untimely end (along with her two destroyer escorts Acasta and Ardent) at the hands of the German twins Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off Norway in June 1940. Their sinking cost the lives of most of the officers and men from those three ships (together with a large RAF contingent).

The frustrating element is the question of why the hell it happened. Why was Glorious sailing through a war zone with none of her aircraft patrollling the sky? Why had she been given permission to sail ahead of Ark Royal? The whole truth may never be known, but the author pieces as much information together as he can (the official files are under lock and key), and presents this evidence in a fair manner.

As I said, I bought this book for a specific purpose, but frankly had I known how good it was, I would have read it years ago. Thoroughly recommended,
5 people found this helpful
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Duncan M. Wilmot
4.0 out of 5 stars Three In A Row
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is the third WW2 Naval vessel book published by Cassall Military Paperbacks I have now have?
On the 'life and death' of the, a famous naval vessel, the who, what, why, when and where, about such?
The other two are 'Pursuit' by Ludovic Kennedy, about the story behind the "Sink the Bismarck''.
And ''Death of the Scharnhorst'' the vessel which sunk the vessel on which Ludovic Kennedy's father died.
This book makes a nice addition to the set, about an event I did not know much beforehand?
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Tim62
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent tale of tragic sinking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2006
Verified Purchase
John Winton is one of the best naval writers around. He graphically recounts the loss of the carrier 'Glorious' to the German navy in 1940. It was a loss that should never have happened the way it did. An aircraft carrier with no combat air patrol up, nor a lookout aloft -- surprised by German ships and sunk.

The ship's commander appeared to have no use for his aircraft, and was keener to get back to base to carry out a court case against an officer than he was to safeguard his ship.

Bizarely the captain concerned was a man who had himsaelf learnt to fly in the inter-war period, so was not unknowledgable about flying. Perhaps the most illustrative example of his mental state is that he had a brace of revolvers on the bridge ready to - as he put it - shoot anybody who he thought was guilty of cowardice. He seems to have wanted to fight his carrier like a cruiser or battleship. Bizarre and reckless.

Winton also dismisses the myth that 'Glorious' could not fight because its decks were packed with RAF Hurricane fighters it had landed from airlfields in Norway. I have seen this story recounted too many times in otherwise reputable accounts of the 1940 Norway campaign -- and it's time this was firmly put to rest.
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