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This is a story of courage and honor.
It was one of the most courageous battles on the seas of World War II.
The Royal Navy's HMS Glowworm, a British G-class destroyer,
was commissioned in 1936.
It was 323 ft long,
with a standard displacement of 1370 tons,
equipped with four 4.7 in guns
and two quadruple 533mm torpedo launchers.
It was an ordinary British small warship.
After the outbreak of World War II,
the Germans launched a military operation to invade Norway,
code-named Operation Weserübung .
The German navy attacked Norwegian territorial waters
and transported the army to land in Norway.
The Royal Navy launched Operation Wilfrid
to blockade Norwegian waters with mines
to keep the German navy in check
and prepare the British Navy for further naval operations.
HMS Glowworm was part of this operation
and was part of the cover fleet with HMS Renown as the core.
On April 6, 1940,
when the weather was bad and the wave was high,
one of the sailors on board the Glowworm fell into the water
and the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Roope,
had to apply to leave the convoy
and search for the sailor who fell into the water.
In this way, the Glowworm was separated from the fleet
and carried out the mission alone.
The Glowworm searched for a whole day,
but could not find the sailors.
One day later, on April 8th,
the weather started to clear up,
but the Glowworm was still unable to catch up with her fleet,
and at 7:59 am, the Glowworm suddenly found an unidentified warship.
Although the other side claimed that it was the Royal Swedish Navy by light signal,
it turned around and fled to the northwest quickly.
In fact, it was the German naval destroyer Hans Lüdemann.
Glowworm made a quick decision
and increased her horsepower to catch up with the enemy ship
and fired two rounds, but both missed the target.
The Glowworm's right front appeared another German destroyer,
Bernd von Arnim, which started to fire at the Glowworm.
The Glowworm was faced with a 1 VS 2 situation.
But Glowworm had no fear,
she opened fire on the two German warships.
The Germans were so brave,
they were afraid that they had their main fleet nearby,
so they were not afraid,
The two German destroyers turned around and ran away,
while the Glowworm was chasing after them.
The German Destroyer was on a mission to protect the German landing fleet,
and their main fleet, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, was nearby.
Admiral Hipper received a engage signal from the German destroyer
and quickly rushed to the battlefield.
Admiral Hipper was a heavy cruiser of 18,600 tons displacement,
212.5 meters long,
equipped with eight 203mm heavy guns
and 12 105mm rapid-fire guns.
The Glowworm and Admiral Hipper were just like a bulldog meeting a lion.
At 9:30 a.m., Glowworm found Admiral Hipper in the field of view.
Glowworm was one against three,
and the opponent was a heavy cruiser
with overwhelming advantage in tonnage and firepower.
The Glowworm had a chance to turn around and escape,
but Admiral Hipper was still far away
and could not tell the difference between the Glowworm and the German destroyer,
so she did not fire.
The creed of the Royal Navy was never to retreat.
The captain of the Glowworm gave the order to go forward at full speed.
The battleship was at full power and rushed towards the powerful opponent.
It was 9:58 am and the distance between the two sides was reduced to 9,000 meters,
Admiral Hippel started to bombard the Glowworm.
The Glowworm dodged from side to side,
hoping to get closer and closer,
her only hope was to get into torpedo range
and defeat the mighty German heavy cruiser with torpedos.
Admiral Hipper's fourth salvo finally hit the Glowworm,
the 203mm shells swept across the tiny British destroyer,
the bridge, radio room, forward main gun
and even the mast of the Glowworm were all shot to pieces,
many officers and sailors were killed instantly and many were seriously wounded.
Captain Roope was also wounded,
he ordered the smoke to be released and zigzagged forward,
hoping that the smoke would protect the Glowworm from the shelling.
The Admiral Hipper was equipped with a radar fire control system,
so even with the smoke cover,
the Glowworm was still under fire.
But the smoke was also a source of fear for the Germans,
as the Glowworm were already in torpedo range
and could have fire their torpedoes at any time,
as they were hidding in the smoke.
Admiral Hippel's commander, Haye,
ordered the ship to reorient her so that the bow was always facing the Glowworm
to reduce the chance of being hit by torpedoes.
This decision also prevented most of Admiral Hipper's guns from firing at the Glowworm,
reducing the pressure on the Glowworm.
At 10:10, Glowworm entered 800 meters from the Germans
and Glowworm quickly fired four torpedoes.
The German sailors on board Admiral Hipper were shocked
to see the torpedoes trailing a terrible course towards them and rushed for cover.
If the British launched the torpedoes at this distance,
Admiral Hipper would be in great danger and had to be sunk as soon as possible.
Haye ordered the warship to go through the smoke
and sink the Glowworm which was hiding behind.
In fact, at this point, the Glowworm had already fired the remaining four torpedoes,
but the Germans failed to notice the four torpedoes while rushing through the smoke,
and the torpedoes missed Admiral Hippel.
Had the Glowworm exhausted all options
and could no longer stand up to the mighty German warships?
No, the gallant Royal Navy sailors did not think so,
as the two ships were very close to each other when Admiral Hipper passed through the smoke.
The captain of the Glowworm, Lieutenant Commander Roope,
ordered a left full rudder to hit the German ship.
Glowworm, covered with wounds and smoke,
hit Admiral Hipper head on the starboard side of the bow.
A hole was opened in the Admiral Hipper and the sea water poured into the ship rapidly.
The German damage control team immediately closed the watertight doors to prevent further damage.
After the collision, the Glowworm's bow was completely damaged and the Glowworm,
which was already heavily wounded,
finally lost control of the ship and began to sink rapidly as seawater poured in.
The surviving British sailors struggled near the sunken wreckage of the Glowworm.
German commander Heyer ordered the lifeboats to be lowered to rescue the men.
The German navy rescued 40 British sailors,
many of whom were seriously injured.
In all, 109 British sailors were killed in the battle.
The only loss of life for the Germans was a sailor who fell overboard during the collision.
The heroic captain of the Glowworm, Major Roope,
drowned from his wounds while the Germans were trying to get him on board.
The heroic acts of the British were respected by their opponents.
The German navy settled the surviving British sailors in an honorable way,
and german commander Heyer also sent a personal letter to the British government through the Swedish Red Cross,
He wrote: "I request the British government to award the captain of the Glowworm,
Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope ,
for his bravery, which is worthy of the high honor of a sailor.
After the war, Lieutenant-Commander Roope was awarded the Victoria Cross,
the highest medal in Britain,
by the British government,
and was the first people to receive the Victoria Cross in World War II.
all the sailors on board the Glowworm will forever be remembered for their bravery.