Sinking of Glorious

8 June 1940, Norwegian Sea, west of Narvik

German victory; Glorious, Ardent and Acasta sunk

As the Allies evacuated northern Norway, the carrier Glorious sailed ahead for Scapa Flow with only the destroyers Ardent and Acasta, carrying the RAF Hurricanes and Gladiators that had been landed on her deck. Her captain, Guy D'Oyly-Hughes, had no aircraft in the air and no lookout in her crow's nest. Admiral Marschall, out with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Operation Juno, sighted her smoke. Scharnhorst hit her at 24,000 yards with one of the longest-range hits ever made at sea, wrecking her flight deck before she could launch her Swordfish. Both destroyers attacked through their own smoke. Ardent was sunk, but Acasta, sinking, hit Scharnhorst with a torpedo that killed 48 men and flooded her engine rooms, and Marschall broke off for Trondheim. Glorious capsized and sank. About 1,500 men were lost, more than in Hood; most survived the sinking but died in the water over the next two days.