HMS Gloucester: The Untold StoryOn 22 May 1941 the cruiser HMS Gloucester (The Fighting 'G') was sunk by aircraft of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Crete. Of her crew of 807 men, only 83 survived to come home at the end of the War in 1945. It is unknown how many men went down with the ship and how many died in the sea clinging to rafts and flotsam during the many hours before the survivors were finally rescued by boats searching for German soldiers who were victims of a previous British naval attack. The fact that Allied destroyers were in the proximity and were not sent to the rescue was a result of poor naval communications and indecision by the local fleet commanders. Gloucester had been low on antiaircraft ammunition and her crew exhausted before being dispatched from the main fleet to search for the stricken destroyer HMS Greyhound. With only HMS Fiji as company, she came under attack from German bombers and when Gloucester's ammunition was finally exhausted she suffered several direct hits and was set ablaze from stem to stern and left out of control.This book looks at the ship's history and operational successes from her launching in 1937 to her final demise. It includes many firsthand accounts from the surviving crew and the author's painstaking research has revealed the awful truth about one of the Royal Navy's greatest disasters during World War Two. |
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Contents
First Gunfire | |
Our Captain is Dead | |
Convoys and Criticism | |
The Last Christmas | |
Indecision and Lack of Ammunition | |
Abandoned and Alone | |
Devastated at the Things I Saw | |
Where is our Navy? | |
Caiques and Kythira | |
Two Young Greek Heroes | |
Salonika to the Stalags | |
Liberation at Last | |
Incredible Bravery | |
Incredible Stress | |
Engaging the Italians | |
Churchill is difficult | |
Expectation and Exhaustion | |
Revenge in the Making | |
Church Bells and Babies | |
The Story Continues | |
Rounding the Circle | |
Roll of Honour Bibliography Sources | |
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Common terms and phrases
action Admiral Admiral Cunningham aircraft Alexandria arrived attacks battle battleship body bomb Boy Sea British caiques camp Captain carried close Commander convoy cover Crete cruisers Cunningham damaged deck despite destroyers Durban enemy eventually Fighting Fiji fire fleet float force four German given Gloucester Gloucester’s guns harbour head HMS Gloucester island Italian Italy joined June killed Kythira later leave letter lives lost Lt Cdr Malta March Mediterranean miles months morning never night Officer operation Ord Sea ordered party passed picked planes port position prisoners raid Rawlings reached recalled received remembered rescue rest returned Richard Royal Marine Royal Navy sailed Seaman sent ship ship’s company side Singer sinking soon station supplies survivors taken told took train troops turned
Bibliographic information
| Title | HMS Gloucester: The Untold Story |
| Author | Ken Otter |
| Publisher | Casemate Publishers, 2017 |
| ISBN | 1526714027, 9781526714022 |
| Length | 224 pages |
| Subjects | › › › History / Europe / Great Britain / General History / Military / Naval History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |