HMS Glasgow was one of five ships of the Bristol sub-class of the light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1910, the ship was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet before she was assigned to patrol the coast of South America. Shortly after the start of the First World War in August 1914, Glasgow captured a German merchant ship. She spent the next several months searching for German commerce raiders. The ship was then ordered to join Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock's squadron in their search for the German East Asia Squadron. He found the German squadron on 1 November off the coast of Chile in the Battle of Coronel. They outnumbered Cradock's force and were individually more powerful, sinking Cradock's two armoured cruisers, although Glasgow was only lightly damaged.
The ship fell back to the coast of Brazil for repairs and to await reinforcements. They arrived in late November under the command of Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee and were considerably more powerful than the East Asia Squadron. After sailing to the Falkland Islands to refuel in early December, the British ships were surprised by the Germans who withdrew when they realized the number of ships that Sturdee had under his command. They pursued the retreating Germans and sank four of their five ships in the Battle of the Falkland Islands, with Glasgow helping to sink one of the German light cruisers. She was one of the ships tasked to hunt down the sole survivor which she finally did, together with another cruiser, in the Battle of Más a Tierra in March 1915.
Glasgow spent the next two years searching for commerce raiders and protecting Allied shipping off the South American coast, although she was unsuccessful in locating one commerce raider active in the South Atlantic in early 1916. The ship was transferred to the Adriatic Sea in mid-1918 and played a minor role in the Second Battle of Durazzo a few months later. She was reduced to reserve after the war ended, but later served as a training ship in 1922–1926 before she was sold for scrap in 1927.
Design and description The Bristol sub-class were officially rated as second-class cruisers suitable for a variety of roles including both trade protection and duties with the fleet.Preston, p. 51 They were long overall, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal and at deep load. Twelve Yarrow boilers fed Glasgows Parsons steam turbines, driving four propeller shafts, that were rated at , for a design speed of . The ship reached during her sea trials from .Lyon, Part 2, pp. 59–60 The boilers used both fuel oil and coal, with of coal and tons of oil carried, which gave a range of at .Friedman 2010, p. 383 The ship had a crew of 480 officers and ratings.
The main armament of the Bristols was two BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XI guns that were mounted on the centreline fore and aft of the superstructure and ten BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mk VII guns on single mountings amidships, five on each broadside. All these guns were fitted with gun shields. The ships carried four Vickers 3-pounder (47 mm) saluting guns, while they were also equipped with two submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, one on each broadside.Lyon, Part 2, pp. 55–57 This armament was considered too light for ships of this size,Lyon, Part 1, p. 53 while the waist guns were subject to immersion in a high sea, making them difficult to work.
The Bristols were considered protected cruisers, with an armoured deck providing protection for the ships' vitals. The deck was thick over the magazines and machinery, over the steering gear and elsewhere. The conning tower was protected by 6 inches of armour, with the gun shields having armour, as did the ammunition hoists.Lyon, Part 2, p. 59 As the protective deck was at waterline, the ships were given a large metacentric height so that they would remain stable in the event of flooding above the armoured deck. This, however, resulted in the ships rolling badly making them poor gun platforms.Brown, p. 63 One problem with the armour of the Bristols which was shared with the other Town-class ships was the sizable gap between the bottom of the gun shields and the deck, which allowed shell splinters to pass through the gap, giving large numbers of leg injuries in the ships' gun crews.Lyon, Part 2, p. 57
Construction and career Glasgow, the sixth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,Colledge & Warlow, pp. 141–142 was laid down on 25 March 1909 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in their Govan shipyard. She was launched on 30 SeptemberMorris, p. 122 and completed on 19 September 1910,Friedman 2010, p. 411 under the command of Captain Marcus Hill. The ship was initially assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet, but was transferred to the 4th Cruiser Squadron on the south east coast of South America the following year. Hill was relieved by Captain John Luce on 17 September 1912. From March to August, Glasgow cruised the coasts of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, making many port visits.Transcript
When the First World War began on 3 August 1914, she was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and captured the Hamburg Süd cargo ship on 14 August.Fayle, pp. 154, 165, 170 A week later Glasgow rendezvoused with the armoured cruiser at the Abrolhos Rocks. The ship continued to patrol and met up with armed merchant cruiser on 28 August and then Rear-Admiral Christopher Cradock's flagship, the armoured cruiser , on 17 September off Santa Catarina Island. The squadron then proceeded to Montevideo, Uruguay. After coaling the squadron arrived at Punta Arenas, Chile, in the Strait of Magellan, on the 28th. They spent a day searching the area for any German ships before heading to the Falkland Islands where they arrived on 1 October. The squadron coaled there and then Glasgow, Monmouth and Otranto returned to the Tierra del Fuego area on another unsuccessful search for German ships. They proceeded to search up the southern coast of Chile as far as Vallenar. Good Hope joined them there on 27 October.
Battle of Coronel
The squadron departed two days later, just as the elderly battleship arrived, Cradock ordering her to follow as soon as possible. He sent Glasgow to scout ahead and to enter Coronel, Chile to pick up any messages from the Admiralty and acquire intelligence regarding German activities. The cruiser began to pick up radio signals from the light cruiser on the afternoon of 29 October and delayed entering Coronel for two days with Cradock's permission to avoid being trapped by the fast German ships. A German supply ship was already there and radioed Spee that Glasgow had entered the harbour around twilight. The cruiser departed on the morning of 1 November, but Spee had already made plans to catch her when informed of her presence the previous evening.Massie, pp. 221–224
Glasgow departed Coronel at 09:15 after having picked up the squadron's mail and rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron four hours later. Cradock ordered his ships to form line abreast with a distance of between ships to maximise visibility at 13:50 and steered north at a speed of . At 16:17 Leipzig spotted Glasgow, the easternmost British ship, to its west and she spotted Leipzigs funnel smoke three minutes later. At 17:10 Cradock ordered his ships to head for Glasgow, the closest ship to the Germans. Once gathered together, he formed them into line astern, with Good Hope in the lead, steering south-easterly at at 18:18. As the sixteen guns aboard the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and were only matched by the two guns on his flagship, he needed to close the range to bring his more numerous 6-inch guns to bear. The Force 7 winds and high seas, however, prevented the use of half of those guns as they were too close to the water. He also wanted to use the setting sun to his advantage so that its light would blind the German gunners. (Vice-Admiral) Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron, was well aware of the British advantages and refused to allow Cradock to close the range. His ships were faster than the British, slowed by the maximum speed of Otranto, and he opened up the range to until conditions changed to suit him. The sun set at 18:50, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them.Massie, pp. 223–228
Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 19:04, when the range closed to . Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst, engaged Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at Monmouth. The German shooting was very accurate, with both armoured cruisers quickly scoring hits on their British counterparts while still outside six-inch gun range, starting fires on both ships. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee's ships inflicted. After disabling Monmouth around 19:35, Spee ordered his armoured cruisers to concentrate their fire on Good Hope when she continued to try to close the range. About 19:50 her forward magazine exploded and blew off her bow; she sank not long afterwards.Massie, pp. 228–230
Glasgow fought almost an entirely separate battle as the German armoured cruisers generally ignored her and she inconclusively duelled the light cruisers Leipzig and . Glasgow broke contact with the German squadron at 20:05 and discovered Monmouth, listing and down by the bow, having extinguished her fires, 10 minutes later. She was trying to turn north to put her stern to the heavy northerly swell and was taking water at the bow. There was little that Glasgow could do to assist the larger ship as the moonlight illuminated both ships and the Germans were searching for them. He broke contact with her at 20:50 and was finally able to report to Canopus the results of the battle. Around 21:20, the ship's crew spotted a searchlight beam and gun flashes behind them and knew that the Germans had finished off Monmouth. Considering that an estimated 600 shells were fired at her, Glasgow was only lightly damaged by five hits, of which the most serious was a shell that detonated on the waterline and tore a hole about in size that flooded one compartment. The ship's casualties numbered four lightly wounded ratings and some parrots that the crew had purchased. In return, she failed to hit any of the German ships.Massie, pp. 232–233, 236
Battle of the Falkland Islands
Glasgow passed through the Strait of Magellan on 4 November and awaited Canopus at its eastern entrance. The battleship rendezvoused with her two days later and they steamed for Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands together. After arriving on the 8th, Canopus was ordered to ground herself in the harbour while the light cruiser continued north and met the armoured cruiser at the River Plate and they sailed to Abrolhas Rocks to await reinforcements.Massie, pp. 242–243 Glasgow stopped in Rio de Janeiro for repairs 16–21 November and arrived at the rocks two days later where Defence, the armoured cruisers , and and the armed merchant cruiser awaited her. Glasgows sister ship arrived the following day and the battlecruisers and , under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee reached the rocks on 26th. He planned to remain there for three days but was persuaded by Luce to depart on the morning of the 28th.Massie, pp. 249–250