three salvoes, the after arcs opened and the ‘D’ turret could fire too. ‘A’ turret was at times troubled by seas washing over it and its fire had to be halted when the destroyer came inside maximum depression. Loading and aiming was difficult in the high seas and the interval between salvoes was irregular; all the more so as it was difficult for the main turrets to follow the fast-moving destroyer over the shortening distance.
The first hit on Glowworm was observed on the starboard side between the bridge and the funnel after the fourth salvo. Lieutenant Commander Roope ordered smoke and turned the destroyer back into it, attempting to gain a respite but Hipper followed her moves on the DeTe radar, firing into the smoke. Emerging again, Glowworm started to take hits from Hipper’s 10.5-cm guns, which had been allowed to shoot. The radio room and wireless aerial were destroyed, halting further signalling. Communication between engine room and bridge was severed, making emergency measures necessary. Further hits opened the hull to the sea. One 20.3-cm shell wrecked the captain’s day cabin, temporarily in use as a first-aid station, killing the medics and most casualties. Another exploded deep in the engine room, fracturing steam pipes and starting multiple fires. Still, Engine-Room Artificer Henry Gregg somehow managed to maintain speed and manoeuvrability. On deck, Glowworm’s forward 4.7-inch gun vanished in a gust of fire while parts of the yardarm crashed onto the siren lanyards, starting a banshee wailing above the howl of the storm. The bridge of the destroyer was a mess of twisted plates and tubes, hit by at least one 10.5-cm shell.
Few shots were fired from Glowworm during the encounter according to the German reports, and there were no direct hits on the cruiser. Only one shell exploded near the foreship, sending shrapnel harmlessly over the deck. Using the cover of his smokescreen, Roope made a torpedo attack at 10:10 GeT. In spite of being close (some eight hundred metres), Heye’s careful tactics of pointing the bow at his adversary paid off and he was able to avoid the torpedoes, even though the nearest was only metres away to port. Roope’s attempts to swing the other mounting out to get off the rest of the torpedoes were hampered, being continuously raked from Hipper’s 3.7- and 2-cm guns.80 Glowworm turned again, re-entering the smokescreen. Heye wanted a quick solution to the encounter before further torpedoes could be fired, and he steered the cruiser into the smoke. Coming out on the other side, the two ships were suddenly very close. Fearing that Glowworm might get another opportunity to launch torpedoes, Heye ordered ‘hard-a-starboard’ in order to close and, if necessary, ram the destroyer. The heavy seas delayed the rudder response, however, and Hipper turned slowly. Whether Roope also intended ramming the cruiser or if the ensuing collision happened fortuitously will never be ascertained, in spite of the legend. Torpedo Officer Lieutenant Ramsey, the sole surviving British officer, later told his rescuers that neither the helm nor the emergency rudder were manned at the time, and so the destroyer’s turn towards Hipper was probably accidental.81
Glowworm after the collision, with bow broken off. Both torpedo mountings are swung out and appear to be empty, so most likely all ten torpedoes were fired. (Bundesarchiv Koblenz)
Whatever the intentions of the two captains, Glowworm tore into Hipper’s forward starboard side with sirens wailing, striking just abaft the anchor. The destroyer’s bow was pressed under the side of the cruiser and broke off. The remains of the hull scraped along the starboard side-armour, making a thirty-five-metre crescent-shaped dent, tearing away a large part of the railings and wrecking the forward starboard torpedo mounting. Mechanikergefreiter Ritter, leading seaman on the forward 10.5-cm, was lost overboard. Several bulkheads were opened to the sea and some five hundred tons of water flooded the hull before the leaks could be isolated. The cruiser was not seriously damaged, in spite of the forecastle being low in the water and a starboard list.82
After the collision, Glowworm drifted clear with a devastating fire raging amidships and Heye ordered ‘Cease fire’ at 10:13. Thirty-one shells had been fired from the 20.3-cm guns, 130 from the 10.5-cm guns, 156 from the 3.7-cm guns and 132 from the 2-cm guns during the fourteen or fifteen minutes that the battle lasted. At first, it was Heye’s intention to leave Glowworm as she was – incapable of shadowing the German fleet any more. There were other British ships nearby, he expected, and these would come to the rescue.83
Glowworm was going down quickly and Lieutenant Commander Roope gave the order to abandon ship. As she sank, men climbed onto her bow or jumped into the freezing, oil-covered water. Legend has it that at the last moment, Lieutenant Commander Roope shook the hand of every man around him. At 10:24 GeT, Glowworm’s boilers exploded and she slipped under; the abrupt stop of the siren causing an eerie silence in spite of the storm.
Having searched briefly for Mechanikergefreiter Ritter and not yet fully under way, Kapitän Heye felt obliged to assist the British sailors struggling for their lives. He gave the unprecedented order for Hipper to heave to, downstream of the drifting survivors. In spite of the danger of British ships showing up at any time, he stayed for over an hour rescuing survivors. Lowering of boats was out of the question, but all personnel on deck, including some of the soldiers, helped to pull the frozen, oil-soaked British sailors up by ropes and ladders. The oily, icy water exhausted the British survivors. Many grabbed the ropes thrown at them but could not hold on and drifted away. Lieutenant Commander Roope was seen in the water helping his men to the ropes. Finally he took hold of a line himself and was pulled some distance up the side of the cruiser. To the horror of British and Germans alike, just before reaching safety, he let go and fell back into the water. From a crew of 149 onboard Glowworm, forty men were pulled out of the water. Several were wounded and at least two later died. The rescued men not in need of medical attention were given dry clothes, cigarettes and hot coffee. They were questioned, but only a few were willing to say much. Kapitän Heye learned little more than the name of the destroyer and that she had belonged to a squadron of three more destroyers and possibly one or two larger ships, bound for Lofoten. None of the survivors appeared to have any impression of the larger tactical picture and expressed surprise to have encountered a German cruiser at sea.84
Survivors being carried to safety onboard Hipper. (Bundesarchiv Koblenz)
Nothing more to do, Kapitän Heye ordered speed and signalled for the four destroyers of 2nd Flotilla, which had eventually arrived on the scene just as the battle was over, to gather on the cruiser. At 10:54, a laconic signal was sent to the fleet: ‘Fühlungshalter versenkt’ – ‘Shadower has been sunk’. There was no point in trying to reunite with the flag. Group II was near the point where they would have been detached anyway and the five ships from now on proceeded independently. It was far too early to approach the coast and, after a sweep north-eastwards to acquire a bearing on the Halten Lighthouse, Heye steered back and forth offshore, waiting for the appropriate time to head for Trondheim. On request from the destroyers, a moderate speed was set to minimise sea effects.
It was only after the repatriation of the Glowworm survivors after the war, when Lieutenant Ramsey was interviewed by the Admiralty, that the full order of events came to be known in Britain. As a result Lieutenant Commander Roope was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, Lieutenant Ramsey received the Distinguished Service Order and Engine-Room Artificer Gregg, Petty Officer Scott and Able Seaman Merritt the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.85
Ironically, the lost Glowworm was the only British surface ship to gain contact with the German invasion fleet on 8 April. It is possible that Hostile also brushed with Hipper that afternoon. Glowworm’s signals were picked up and, after ordering the captured trawler Nordland to proceed independently towards Kirkwall, Commander Wright turned to assist. At 15:45, a warship was sighted ‘hull down to the North East, steering a North Westerly course’. Wright believed this
