Jack Mantle is buried in the Royal Naval Cemetery on Portland. The story of another local VC is told below - the tale of HMS Glowworm.

Ramming the Hipper

In April 1940 the Germans invaded Norway and among the many naval actions during the campaign there was one with connections to Weymouth, a David and Goliath tale of heroism leading to the award of a posthumous Victoria Cross to the Commanding Officer of a small British destroyer, Lieutenant Commander G.B.Roope, a Weymouth man.

The 8th April found HMS Glowworm off the Norwegian coast, detached from her duties as escort to the battleship HMS Renown, and searching for a seaman washed overboard. Two German destroyers appeared on the horizon and after a short engagement in which the Glowworm recorded at least one hit on the enemy, the Germans retired to the north drawing the British destroyer on to the big 8 inch guns of the heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper.

The Captain of the Glowworm now had a dreadful choice to make. His normal duty would be to shadow the powerful enemy force to enable the Renown to intercept, but Roope knew there was little chance of remaining in contact with the Hipper in the weather conditions so he chose to challenge the enemy himself, to pit his torpedoes and 4.7 inch guns against the German's greatly superior firepower.

After reporting the enemy to Renown, he charged in, but all ten of his torpedoes missed and Glowworm received a direct hit from Hipper's 8 inch. One gun was put out of action but the destroyer still had a full head of steam and her Captain decided, to the amazement of the Germans, to ram the big cruiser. She hit at full force and embedded her bows solidly into the Hipper. The German Captain manoeuvred frantically to release his unwanted visitor and finally had to train all the guns that would bear to blast the destroyer from his side.

Glowworm drifted away and heeled to starboard. The ship was a shambles with few unwounded. Roope gave the order to abandon ship and shortly after Glowworm turned over. One survivor remembers his Captain, a keen cricketer, sitting on the keel of the upturned hull saying 'I don't suppose we shall play much cricket again."

The German cruiser spent over an hour trying to pick up survivors but only 31 out of a crew of 149 were rescued and this did not include her gallant Captain.

So impressed were the Germans with the conduct of the action of the tiny British destroyer that the German Admiral recommended her Captain for the VC, believed to be the only time such a decoration had been awarded on the recommendation of an enemy.

The Hipper, which was carrying 2000 German Alpine troops to Norway had to turn back to Germany for extensive repairs which kept her out of action for much of the war.