Carrier Glorious cover art

Carrier Glorious

The Life and Death of an Aircraft Carrier (Warship Battles of World War Two)

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Carrier Glorious

By: John Winton
Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
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About this listen

The engrossing but tragic history of the Royal Navy's worst loss of World War Two.

Ideal for fans 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.

©1986 The Estate of John Winton (P)2023 Tantor
Armed Forces Military Naval Forces War Royal Navy

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Most relevant
Crazy lead it would appear by its last captain, this max of foolishness and someone who’s going through a mental breakdown sending people off to die. Very sad but technically very interesting about ships in the war and war years

What a crazy way to die

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