HMS Glasgow

Index of Allied warships during Operation Neptune

History, technical sheet and photo

Image : HMS Glasgow

H.M.S. Glasgow history

The light cruiser C21 H.M.S. (Her Majesty Ship), launched on June 20, 1936, entered service on September 9, 1937. At the beginning of the Second World War, it operated in Scandinavia and participated in the Norwegian campaign, during which it evacuated members of the Crown of the Kingdom of Norway. Returning to British territorial waters, it fires accidentaly on HMS Imogen on July 16, 1940, while a thick fog concealed the visibility.

Deployed in the Mediterranean sea, it made a series of convoy escorts before being severely damaged on December 3rd by torpedoes fired from an Italian plane. Repaired for more than a month in Alexandria, HMS Glasgow was then transferred to Southeast Asia. Escorting other convoys, it was renovated in the United States and then placed in the 10th Cruiser squadron that patrolled the Arctic Ocean until February 1943. In December, he participated in Operation Stonewall and at the end of the month, it was engaged alongside the HMS Enterprise against eleven German destroyers (three were sunk, four damaged).

On June 6, 1944, it participated in Operation Neptune in the Bombardment Support Force C off Omaha Beach which it bombed in the early hours of D-Day. During the continuation of the Battle of Normandy, it supported with its fires the Allied land forces progressing through the Norman hedgrows, notably during the conquest of Cherbourg from 25 to 26 June by bombarding the battery of Querqueville. Touched during this duel of artillery by two direct shots, it must return to the United Kingdom to be repaired. As of August 1945, HMS Glasgow was sent to the Pacific to pursue the war as a Royal Navy flagship in the area.

In 1951 it was the flagship of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean sea under the command of Admiral Earl Mountbatten. It was placed in reserve from 1955 and was again in service during the Franco-British intervention in Suez in 1956. After being retired from active duty in November of that year, HMS Glasgow was scrapped in July 1958

H.M.S. Glasgow technical sheet

Creator/User: Britain
Denomination: C 21 – H.M.S. Glasgow
Class: Southampton-class light cruiser

Crew: 748 sailors

Armament (1944): 12x 152 mm guns, 8x 105 mm guns, 8x 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, 8x 13 mm machine guns, 6x 533 mm torpedo tubes

Displacement: 11,350 tons
Speed: 32 knots
Length: 170 m
Beam: 18,8 m
Draught: 6,5 m