HMS Gloucester
by Russell Grant
It took Oliver Cromwell and his men to commission the first Gloucester and she wasn't even an HMS! I presume she was named after the city to honour Gloucester 's valour in holding out for Parliament against the king in the Civil War; this was, of course, still very fresh in their mind. My heart went out to the HMS Gloucester that became the subject of a BBC documentary because of the loss of ship and life in World War 2. I have listed each of the ships that have borne the Gloucester name so proudly, right up to the ship that currently serves and has already made its mark on the world stage.
First HMS GLOUCESTER - Oliver Cromwell 1654 to 1660 King Charles II From 1660 Ship of the Line - Third Rate - 70 guns.
Built in 1654 as part of the great Commonwealth naval programme under Oliver Cromwell and the Rump Parliament; HMS Gloucester first saw action in the West Indies against Spain. She was heavily involved in the Dutch Wars, gaining six battle honours starting at the British victory in the battle of Lowestoft June 1665, The Four Days Battle of the Second Dutch-British War . This was fought from June 11 th to 14 th , 1666 off North Foreland, Kent and remains one of the longest naval engagements in history ending in a Royal Navy defeat. She was at Orfordness when the tide turned and a British victory in August 1666. In the third Dutch-British war in June at Solebay 1672 the British withdrew giving the Dutch a strategic victory, Schooneveld June 1673 and Texel 1673. Everything about this first Gloucester 's career was dramatic. She was wrecked off Great Yarmouth in 1682 sailing to the Port of Leith , Edinburgh , running aground due to a navigational error. Although many of the crew were lost His Royal Highness The Duke of York (King James II) and Sir John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough were amongst the survivors.
Second HMS GLOUCESTER King William II ( Scotland ) III ( England ) - Frigate - Fourth rate - 60 guns 96 tonnes
The second HMS Gloucester was launched at Bristol in 1694. Not witness to anything particularly headline grabbing this Royal Naval vessel become a storage hulk on the River Thames at Deptford in 1706. Her most hair-raising episode came when she undertook an Atlantic voyage under Admiral Benbow, with orders to watch out for the skull and crossbones of notorious pirate Captain Kidd. She was broken up in 1731.
Third HMS Gloucester Queen Anne Frigate - fourth rate - 60 guns 923 tonnes
Launched on the River Thames at Rotherhithe in July 1709 it took just four months before she saw action. On convoy duty near Cape Clear , County Cork she was attacked by the French on October 26 th . After a fierce battle the Gloucester was "reduced to a shambles" and captured by either the French ship Achille or Lys . Her Captain (Balchen) was cleared of any blame and continued to serve being knighted for his services in 1744.
Fourth HMS Gloucester Queen Anne Frigate Fourth Rater - 50 guns 714 tonnes The fourth Gloucester was launched in 1711 at Deptford. She took part in two expeditions to the northerly waters of the Baltic.
Fifth HMS Gloucester King George II Frigate Fourth Rater, 50 guns 866 tonnes Built at Sheerness in Kent in 1737, in 1740, Captain Anson led a squadron of ships on a round the world voyage which included the Gloucester. Having rounded treacherous Cape Horn and crossed the Pacific the ship was damaged in a storm near the island of Tinian off China in 1742. Anson had little choice but to order the destruction of the ship by fire to prevent her being captured.
Sixth HMS Gloucester - King George II Frigate Fourth Rate, 50 guns 986 tonnes
She was launched in 1745 at Rotherhithe and Captain Charles Saunders was appointed Captain whilst sailing out of Sandwich , Kent . On October 14 th 1747, as part of Admiral Hawkes squadron, Gloucester took part in the action against the French off Ushant in Brittany and captured two ships; one Spanish and the other French. In January 1747 whilst on a cruise with, and under the orders of, Captain Cheap of HMS Lark, they captured a Spanish Galleon, the Fort de Nantz, off Madeira, enroute from the Havana , Cuba to Cadiz , Spain . As was usual the Spaniard was carrying a valuable cargo, estimated at 300,000 Louis, which was landed in Devon waters at Plymouth .
HMS Gloucester - King George III - The AMERICAN' Gloucester was a 10-gun brig launched in British North America on Lake Erie in 1807 . She was captured by the Americans in April 1813 and destroyed by the British a few weeks later.
Seventh HMS Gloucester King George III Ship of the Line Third Rate - 74 guns
Built in the eventful year for France , Russia and Tchaikovsky, 1812, at Northfleet in Kent . In that same year her Captain Robert Williams was principally employed protecting convoys through the Great Belt the Straits between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen - a job he did for five successive seasons. He returned to Britain every winter when the Baltic was frozen. The Gloucester was part of a convoy to the Leeward Islands 16 February 1814. From there he escorted the 90th regiment to Quebec and returned home with trade from Barbados in the September. The Gloucester was paid off at Sheerness soon after and in 1816 out was at Chatham out of commission. In 1822, she had a new Captain: Sir Edward William OWEN and was recommissioned under the same captain at Sheerness in March 1824. The Jamaica House of Assembly passed a vote of thanks to him for his prompt attention to paid to protecting their commercial and naval interests. In 1825, Capt. Joshua S. HORT0N took the helm at Sheerness it was now came the high point of this HMS Gloucester's service; to convey the Duke of Devonshire to St Petersburg in 1826 as Ambassador Extraordinary for the coronation of Czar Nicholas I. In 1828 Captain Jenkin Jones was stationed in the River Medway when HMS Gloucester became a guard ship. In 1831, she was downgraded at Chatham to a 50-gun vessel and was never recommissioned. The ship was eventually sold in 1884 .
Eighth HMS Gloucester King Edward VII Town Class Light Cruiser - 4800 tonnes
Launched in 1909 at Dalmuir, Dunbartonshire this Gloucester was one of a new breed of cruisers well armed and with steam turbines that gave a speed of 25 knots. She displayed the arms of the City of Gloucester prominently on board with many of her company being Gloucestrians and sailed into Gloucester on January 1911. During the visit she was presented with a mascot: a terrifying bull terrier by the name of Bounce! In August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, HMS Gloucester was in the eastern Mediterranean and sent to intercept the Breslau , a German light cruiser, and the Goeben, a battle cruiser. Gloucester caught the imagination of the allies for her high-speed pursuit of the Kaiser's Imperial ships even though they both managed to escape. At the end of the year this nippy ship was transferred to the British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow , Orkney where she was based for the rest of the war. She flexed her muscles once more when taking part in the last and biggest battleship battles ever, the Battle of Jutland in 1916, with her 2 x 6 inch and 10 x 4 inch guns no doubt blazing.
Ninth HMS Gloucester George VI - THE FIGHTING G', Flagship of the 4 th Cruiser Squadron.
The ninth Gloucester was completed in January 1939 and launched by Alice, The Duchess of Gloucester. The ship became Flagship of the 4th Cruiser Squadron attached to the East Indies Company. At the outbreak of war, the ship was stationed at Simonstown, Cape Town , South Africa until May 1940 when she joined the 7th Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean fleet based at Alexandria , Egypt .
In July 1940, when Italy entered the war, Gloucester was damaged by an Italian air attack and her Commanding Officer, Captain F R Garside CBE, was killed. Between August 1940 and May 1941, the ship was involved in many actions and her battle honours legendary, is it any wonder she was nicknamed, The Fighting 'G'.
In May 1941, the Royal Navy was at sea preventing a German sea-borne landing in force on the island of Crete . Thanks to our ships taking care of business many German transports that sailed from mainland Greece didn't reach Crete , but the Luftwaffe dive-bombers exacted a heavy toll upon the British ships, which unlike modern vessels did not have crucial air support. The Gloucester came under attack from up to 200 German dive-bombers as she sustained at least four heavy bomb hits and three near misses on May 22 nd 1941. The RAF having been withdrawn left the ill-fated Gloucester and new cruiser, Fiji , with only their own inadequate defences to protect themselves. Both ships fought valiantly until the bitter end, and bitter it was as both were sunk.
Survivors in the water were also strafed and bombed. From a ship's company of 807 men, only 84 of the cruiser's crew survived in the water until the next day after which they were imprisoned in German prisoner of war camps.
In less than a year's service in the Mediterranean , HMS Gloucester had won five battle honours and lost over 700 men and two C.Os. Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham gave paid this tribute: "Thus went the gallant Gloucester . She had endured all things, and no ship had worked harder or had had more risky tasks. She had been hit by bombs more times than any other vessel, and had always come up smiling."
But the story was not over as half a century after her loss HMS Gloucester was at the centre of controversy as revealed by television documentary. It alleged that the sinking of the Gloucester might have been the result of serious blunders by Royal Navy commanders.
New evidence emerged and was told by the BBC. It was originally believed that the loss of the battleship off the coast of the Greek island of Crete in 1941 was unavoidable due to the ferocity and diversity of enemy action. But the documentary HMS Gloucester: The Untold Story, alleged that military chiefs blundered by splitting the cruiser from the main fleet and sending her back into action. The vessel was directed away from the main fleet during the battle to help evacuate British troops when she was low on ammunition and without RAF cover, which had been withdrawn.
Naval records show that the cruiser was given orders to "withdraw at discretion" an hour before she was sunk, but the Gloucester could have already been under attack at this point. Previously unpublished letters from senior officers about the sinking, state that it was "a grave error" to deploy the Gloucester when she was so low on ammunition. The fleet commander was heavily criticised for the decision and later removed from his command and sent to an office posting. It also raised questions about why, contrary to usual naval practice, rescue boats were not sent back under cover of darkness to pick up survivors.
One of the few survivors was interviewed: Mr John Stevens, 80, of South Ockendon, Essex, recalled the loss of the Gloucester "We were low in ammunition when we came under attack from around 200 Stukas [dive bombers]. The ship began sinking around 4.50pm and was gone within an hour. The tradition in the Navy is that when a ship has sunk, a vessel it is sent back to pick up survivors under cover of darkness. That did not happen and we do not know why. We were picked up by Germans. I believe a fleet commander made a fatal error in taking the Gloucester away from the fleet. We were very low in ammunition and we should have withdrawn to Alexandria to refuel and get more ammunition."
The sinking of HMS Gloucester is commemorated with a stained-glass window at Gloucester Cathedral.
THE UNFINISHED GLOUCESTER Queen Elizabeth II
A 2170-ton frigate to bear the name Gloucester was ordered from Portsmouth Dockyard in 1956 but later cancelled.
Tenth HMS GLOUCESTER Queen Elizabeth II - HMS Gloucester type 42 Destroyer 4650 tonnes
This ship was built by Vosper Thorneycroft at Woolston, Southampton and launched on 2nd November 1982 by Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Gloucester. The ship retains links with the Royal Gloucestershire Regiment and City of Gloucester . Her crest features a horseshoe from the City's Tudor Arms. She sailed from the UK on August 30 th 1990 in support of the United Nations embargo against Iraq . Having already been on duty in the Gulf the ship escorted the first American ships to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles against the Iraqis on the 17 January 1991. On February 25 th Gloucester was escorting the USS Missouri close to the Kuwaiti coast as it bombarded the shore with her 16" guns. In the early hours of that morning, an Iraqi Seersucker or Silkworm missile was fired against the Missouri . In less than 90 seconds, Gloucester had destroyed the Seersucker with two Sea Darts, in what proved to be the first validated, successful engagement of a missile by a missile combat at sea. Gloucester returned home after 208 days on the 25th March 1991. During that time, her Lynx helicopter had successfully engaged and neutralised seven Iraqi naval units with Sea Skua missiles. During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict HMS Gloucester was the first Royal Navy vessel to evacuate British nationals from Beirut , docking on 18 July 2006.
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| Russell Grant interviews Susan Hamilton, to find out the facts about Gloucester Cathedral. Please feel free to download the audio files for your MP3 player or to listen to on your PC: |
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Russell interviews Greg Ward at Country House Hotel & Restaurant in Gloucester
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