Lot Essay
H.M.S. Glasgow's wartime career got off to an unfortunate start, when, in thick fog, in July 1940, she was in collision with the Destroyer Imogen off Duncansby Head in Northern Scotland - the latter ship caught fire and had to be abandoned with the loss of 18 Ratings. Despatched to the Mediterranean later in the same year, her unlucky record continued when she fell victim to a torpedo strike in Suda Bay on 3.12.1940. Following a period of repairs at Alexandria and Singapore, she joined the Eastern Fleet and had the misfortune to sink a Royal Australian Navy Patrol Boat which was mistaken for a Japanese vessel. But her luck changed for the better on appointment to the 10th Cruiser Squadron in 1942, not least in an action fought in the Bay of Biscay alongside the Enterprise on 28.12.1943, when the German Destroyers T25, T26 and T27 were all sunk. Her final brush with the enemy was off Cherbourg in late June 1944, when she was damaged by enemy gunfire and once more compelled to return to port for extended repairs. The Glasgow finished the War with Battle Honours for "Norway 1940", "Biscay 1943", "Arctic 1943" and "Normandy 1944".